Fulham first gave Liverpool his second Premier League defeat of the season on Sunday afternoon at Craven Cottage, away from Anfield.
Alexis Mac Alistair blows up the table topper with a strong strike from outside the box in the 14th minute, but some suspicious defenses from his teammates allowed Ryan Sesegnon (23′), Alex Iwobi (32′) and Rodrigo Muniz (37′) to take the hosts a 2-go lead. Instead of Liverpool, Louis Diaz finally performed somewhat better from visitors in the second half in the 72nd minute, but it was too little and too late.
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Harry Wilson was unable to stand up to his previous club and joined Arsenal lender Lease Nelson on the sidelines.
With Bern Reno at the goal, Timothy Castagne and Antony Robinson were protected by the duo of Thunder Berge and Sasa Lukic, sandwiched between centre backs Joachim Andersen and Calvin Bassie. Andreas Pereira played in the upper midfield role with Sessegnon and Iwobi attacking from the flanks and Muniz attacking as the central attacker.
For Liverpool, Allison Becker was not yet in the goal. The Brazilian suffered a head injury during an international break and was deemed obviously unprepared to return. Defenders Trent Alexander Arnold and Joe Gomez were also on, so Connor Bradley was back in training in time to build the bench.
Caomhin Kelleher represented Alison between the posts, and Curtis Jones stepped into the right-back role. Ryan Gravenbellch stood in front of the backline as No. 6. Mohamed Sara attacked from the right, Cody Gakupo from the left and Diogo Jota from the middle.
Match Summary
From the start, it was clear that this would be a difficult match for Liverpool. A very casual moment from Conate gave the home side an early chance they failed to take it, and in the 14th minute, when Mac Allister found a small space for 20 yards and fired past Leno, they felt as if they had been punished. Perhaps the only moment Berge didn’t do his job properly, and Bassey’s progress towards the block was too slow. But it was a lovely strike from the Argentina international and there was nothing Reno could do about it.
However, Marco Silva’s men soon gathered, and just nine minutes later, a cross from Robinson from the right dealt with Jones poorly. Jones was attacked by Sesegnon from close range, and Van Dik wasn’t enough for him to get there first.
It was Robertson’s turn to make the costly error, as he discovered that his incredibly unwise horizontal pass was not marked just outside the box. The Reds’ defense was closed quickly enough to block the first shot, but the rebound was once again returned to the rock om by the unfortunate Robertson.
Five more minutes later, the cottage dealt yet another blow. Van Dijk was characterized by Muniz, and it was a continually easy to see, bringing the clearance of the Liverpool captain actually set the Fulham striker perfectly. Van Dick tried to recover, but it was too late as Muniz slipped the ball under Keleher and slipped into the net.
Liverpool have performed several poorly this season, losing to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, resulting in a final defeat to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup, but the opening of the 45-minute session at Craven Cottage was undoubtedly the worst. All the defenders made big mistakes, but Greignbellch and Mac Alistair were unable to acquire their team from midfield, except for a 14-minute inspirational moment. Szoboszlai was very poor and Gakupo rarely went where he wanted. In such a situation, Jota and Sarah had to fall deeper to help organize the attack, but they rarely did so, so they were very involved. Especially Sarah.
The Arne Slot team looked much better in the second half, especially after Szoboszlai and Gakpo made a way for ex-Fulham Man Harvey Elliott and Luis Diaz. Elliot managed to push the ball further forward, but it was Diaz who made the biggest difference. His tricks and movements always gave Fulham’s defence trouble, but no goal came before Slot brought about an interesting change by introducing Bradley, who had recovered in place of Conate.
Five minutes after coming, Bradley ran neatly through the middle and slid the ball into Diaz. Diaz was too fast for Andersen to respond, and the Colombian plunged past Leno to make the final 20 minutes of the match very nervous.
Between that moment and the final whistle, Leno takes action to save Jones’ header, Diaz insists a penalty, Elliot hits the crossbar from 10 yards and shoots straight with Leno, and Elliot fires too neatly from inside the box to annoy the Fulham’s keeper.
Fulham also had a good chance to score a fourth goal, but Kelleher did well to deny Harrison Reed from 20 yards.
Bruce helps the Reds push title
In an interesting string of events, Liverpool city Everton rivals helped ease the pain of this defeat in terms of the Premier League title race, holding second-place Arsenal in a 1-1 draw the day before. In the seventh round, Liverpool’s lead over the gunners was reduced from 12 to 11 points, clearly reaching nine points.
The gap is still quite wide, and at this point many don’t question Liverpool’s ultimate title. However, at this point it is not hidden from the fact that things don’t go very well for Merseysiders. For Liverpool, comparable to Manchester United’s 20 title record has been a priority from the start of the season, but the early Champions League exit and the final defeat of the Carabao Cup have psychologically hurt them. In fact, they have now lost three of the last four matches in all competitions, and slots will certainly consider an unacceptable condition.
On Saturday, when Liverpool welcomes West Ham to Anfield, the first chance will come to start getting things right.
Meanwhile, it is a completely natural victory for Fulham over the league leaders, and Silva will be proud of the way his players fought and performed overall. With England set to have five teams in the Champions League next season, those who finish in the top seven are likely to take part in the continental competition, and the cottage certainly aims to be there.
Of course, defeating Liverpool was a great feat, and only Nottingham Forest did that, but the battle for European spots will be fierce. Fulham currently ranks 8th with 48 points, with fewer than two Newcastle in two positions, but Magpies have two matches and have a great chance to climb further on Monday, facing Leicester City in relegation battles.