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Liverpool fans learnt a fair bit about their team during Friday night’s rollercoaster Premier League opener against Bournemouth.

The Reds have had a mixed pre-season, with defensive vulnerabilities showing up a little too often.

The hope had been that Arne Slot would have those issues ironed out by the time the Cherries visited Anfield.

However, that was not the case, with Liverpool looking as open as they had done against the likes of AC Milan and Yokohama F.

Marinos over the summer break.

To rectify the problems, Slot turned to Joe Gomez, who came on at right-back after Jeremie Frimpong felt his hamstring in the second half.

Wataru Endo initially stepped in for Frimpong, but with the Japanese struggling to handle the Bournemouth attack, Gomez arrived to steady the ship.

And after doing his job well, the 28-year-old signalled the start of what could still be a big season for him.

Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images

Over the course of the past 12 months or so, Gomez has become a bit of a forgotten man at Anfield.

Having made only nine Premier League appearances last term, the last of those being in December, the versatile defender has been somewhat out of the picture.

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But despite suggestions that Gomez almost left for around £45m last summer, there has been no feeling that he could depart this time.

With Slot low on defensive options, Gomez certainly has a part to play.

With Gomez now back fit, Slot will perhaps be wondering whether to swap his centre-back for the visit to St James’ Park next time out.

If not, then there could be a berth at right-back for Gomez.

His partnership with Virgil van Dijk won Liverpool a Premier League in 2020 and he showed some of that form as recently as last season.

If Liverpool are not successful in their pursuit of Marc Guehi in the final two weeks of the window, then there is a chance Gomez goes on to become Van Dijk’s first choice partner once again.

But on Friday Gomez at least sent a timely reminder that he is still around and still very much capable of doing a job.