Peter Crouch somewhat agreed with Ferdinand when he attempted to put reason to Liverpool’s quickfire loss of form – feeling that the Bournemouth fixture was ‘hard’ to get enthused about. He told BT Sport: “It’s easy to get up for a Manchester United game, it’s a lot harder to come to Bournemouth, bottom of the league, for the early kick-off.

“100 per cent [it was] complacency, you saw it in a lot of the play. Some of the passes were sloppy, some of the defending was really lax – trying to play offside, doing the lazy things, not going with runners. We saw it with the goal – people switching off, not tracking back with the same intensity that they had last week. Top teams don’t play like that. Also a top, top team, when they come to Bournemouth, you expect them to have 20 shots on goal, have some cleared off the line, some luck here and there. But in all honesty, Bournemouth deserved it today.”

Free £2 shop bet with William Hill every day of the Cheltenham Festival - plus all the fantastic daily coverage you need

Pick up your Daily Express every day of the festival for racing specials, day by day updates and free bet EVERY DAY.

Celebrate the biggest racing week of the year- the Cheltenham Festival. One of the most prestigious National Hunt Meetings of the calendar is not to be missed…and we’ve got a bumper week of amazing content and great reader offers. Find out more HERE