Mohamed Salah laughs off Milos Kerkez fume as true feelings revealed over Liverpool decision
Liverpool threw down the gauntlet to Arsenal on Saturday by going nine points clear at the Premier League's summit ahead of the Gunners' visit from Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.
Mohamed Salah's penalty was his 20th Premier League goal of the campaign, converted after Cody Gakpo had been brought down by Lewis Cook, and the Egyptian moved up to 25 in all competitions with a sublime second with 15 minutes left to play at the Vitality.
But you knew all of that, course. What you might have missed, however, were a series of intriguing subplots on the south coast on Saturday afternoon. Here are the best 'moments missed' from the day's action.
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Over-Cooked
Let's start with the main decision of Bournemouth supporters' ire, shall we? Cody Gakpo won a penalty after being tripped by Lewis Cook with VAR choosing not to intervene after the decision from referee Darren England.
It immediately led to the home fans declaring Gakpo as "embarrassing" and was the catalyst for Cherries supporters spending the next 60 minutes or so moaning about the referee and the origins of his birth. No, Darren England is not in fact "a Scouser".
Arne Slot was inevitably asked about it after the game, saying: "Controversy from who? Online, there is always controversy! Especially from fans that are not in favour of Liverpool.
"Only thing I can say - and I haven't seen it back - is that one of my players is on a clear one-v-one with the goalkeeper, and he is falling down. So either he makes a dive or they touch him. And if they touch him it is a penalty for me."
Footage of Cook has since emerged online where eagle-eyed lip-readers have claimed the Bournemouth defender says: "Yeah it's a foul..." to his team-mates just moments before Salah smashes it home.
The six-second clip of Cook speaking to David Brooks and Ilya Zabarnyi has since been widely shared by prominent Liverpool social media accounts. Only those involved in the conversation will know for certain if Cook was admitting it was a foul on Gakpo, of course, but the evidence appears worthy of a second viewing...
Aggressive Kerkez fumes
If Milos Kerkez was viewing Saturday's game as something of an audition given his transfer links to Liverpool in recent weeks, it was one he was desperate to pass.
The aggressive left-back was intense in his efforts to nullify Mohamed Salah throughout and clearly it was a tactic from the hosts in general to be firm in their defending against Liverpool's star man.
For Kerkez, himself, there was little shame at seeing a player who Liverpool fans champion as the best in the world this season, ending the game with a couple of goals.
One particular piece of play in the second half left Kerkez furious at official Darren England, however, after he was penalised for his particularly robust attempts to deny Salah progressing up the field.
As the Hungary international was trying to get tight, he was almost forced to wrestle Salah off the ball before the man-handling was given as a foul against him. That, curiously, caused Kerkez to vent his visible frustrations to England, with an angry gesture at the concession of the free-kick. Salah simply shrugged off the attention and got on with the game.
Salah, who held off the challenge with his strength, kept his cool and laughed it all off after the whistle blew. Such attention is nothing new to him and there was nothing Kerkez could do for the second goal from the Egyptian superstar.
Salah on the end of boos
Salah, surprisingly, was also on the receiving end of some boos from the home ends after he had opened the scoring from the spot.
It's unclear exactly what the Reds star had done to wrong his hosts other than rattle home the penalty but he was still subjected to a chorus of boos every time he touched it for the rest of the first period.
Such audible displays of frustration could be understandable had Salah himself won the penalty that Bournemouth disputed but he was simply doing his job in making sure he fired in from 12 yards. Still, the Cherries fans didn't let that get in the way of their booing.
Water off a duck's back for Salah, at least.