Fulham inflicted Liverpool with their second Premier League defeat of the season on Sunday afternoon at Craven Cottage, first away from Anfield.
Alexis Mac Allister blasted the desk toppers forward with a strong strike from exterior the field within the 14th minute, however some questionable defending from his teammates enabled Ryan Sessegnon (23′), Alex Iwobi (32′) and Rodrigo Muniz (37′) to offer the hosts a two-goal result in take to the break. Liverpool substitute Luis Diaz ultimately topped a considerably higher efficiency from the guests within the second half within the 72nd minute, but it surely proved too little, too late.
Groups
Harry Wilson was unable to face his former membership, becoming a member of Arsenal loanee Reiss Nelson on the sidelines.
With Bernd Leno in objective, Timothy Castagne and Antonee Robinson flanked centre-backs Joachim Andersen and Calvin Bassey in defence, shielded by the duo of Sander Berge and Sasa Lukic. Andreas Pereira performed in superior midfield function, with Sessegnon and Iwobi attacking from the flanks, and Muniz because the central attacking determine.
For Liverpool, there was nonetheless no Alisson Becker in objective – the Brazilian suffered a head harm through the worldwide break and was clearly deemed not able to return. Defenders Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez had been out as properly, and Conor Bradley had returned to coaching in time to make the bench.
Caomhin Kelleher deputized for Alisson between the posts, and Curtis Jones stepped into the right-back function, flanking Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate along with Andy Robertson on the left. Ryan Gravenberch stood in entrance of the again line because the No. 6, with Mac Allister closest to him and Dominik Szoboszlai roaming additional up. Mohamed Salah attacked from the precise, Cody Gakpo from the left, and Diogo Jota by way of the center.
Match recap
It was clear from the beginning this might be a troublesome match for Liverpool, with Fulham trying very motivated and ready to combat for the ball in all areas of the pitch. A particularly nonchalant second from Konate gave the house aspect an early probability which they didn’t take, and it felt as in the event that they had been being punished within the 14th minute when Mac Allister discovered a bit of house at round 20 yards and fired previous Leno. It was most likely the one second when Berge didn’t do his job correctly and Bassey’s step ahead to dam got here too late. It was, nonetheless, a stunning strike from the Argentina worldwide and there was nothing Leno may do about it.
However Marco Silva’s males rallied shortly, and solely 9 minutes later, a cross from Robinson from the precise was handled poorly by Jones which enabled Sessegnon to pounce from shut vary, with Van Dijk not doing sufficient to get there first.
Within the thirty second minute, it was Robertson’s flip to make a pricey error as his unbelievably unwise horizontal go discovered Iwobi unmarked simply exterior the field. The Reds’ defence closed ranks shortly sufficient to dam the preliminary shot, however the rebound was poked again to Iwobi by the hapless Robertson once more, and simply to cap issues off, it was the Scotland captain’s tried block that diverted the second shot out of Kelleher’s attain.
And one other 5 minutes later, the Cottagers delivered one more blow, with Van Dijk being outpowered uncharacteristically simply by Muniz, ensuing within the Liverpool captain’s tried clearance truly setting the Fulham striker completely. Van Dijk tried to get well, but it surely was too late as Muniz slid the ball beneath Kelleher and into the web.
Liverpool have had just a few poor performances this season, ensuing of their losses to Paris Saint-Germain within the Champions League, in addition to their Carabao Cup last defeat to Newcastle, however the opening 45 minutes at Craven Cottage had been arguably the worst. All of their defenders had made huge errors, Gravenberch and Mac Allister – other than that second of inspiration within the 14th minute – couldn’t get their crew going from midfield, Szoboszlai was very poor, and whereas Gakpo tried very onerous, the ball not often went the place he needed it to and Fulham defended his flank properly. In such circumstances, Jota and Salah wanted to drop deeper to assist with organizing assaults, however they principally didn’t achieve this and had been barely concerned. Significantly Salah.
Arne Slot’s crew appeared significantly better within the second half, particularly after Szoboszlai and Gakpo made method for ex-Fulham man Harvey Elliott and Luis Diaz. Although Elliott managed to push the ball ahead much more, it was Diaz who made the largest distinction. His trickery and motion continuously gave the Fulham defence bother, however the objective wouldn’t come earlier than Slot made an fascinating change by introducing the recovered Bradley as a substitute of Konate, with Jones shifting into midfield and Gravenberch dropping to defence alongside Van Dijk.
5 minutes after approaching, Bradley made a positive run by way of the center and slipped the ball to Diaz, whose skillful flip was too fast for Andersen to react and the Colombian poked previous Leno to make the ultimate 20 minutes of the match extremely tense.
Between that second and the ultimate whistle, Leno was referred to as into motion to avoid wasting a Jones header, Diaz unsuccessfully claimed for a penalty, Elliott hit the crossbar from 10 yards, substitute Federico Chiesa shot straight at Leno, and Elliott fired too tamely from contained in the field to bother the Fulham ‘keeper.
Fulham additionally had a very good probability to get a fourth objective, however Kelleher bought down properly to disclaim substitute Harrison Reed from 20 yards.
Blues assist Reds title push
In an fascinating set of occasions, Liverpool’s metropolis rivals Everton helped their neighbours reduce the ache of this defeat when it comes to the Premier League title race, holding second-placed Arsenal to a 1-1 draw the day past. With seven rounds to go, Liverpool’s lead over the Gunners is thus diminished from 12 to 11 factors, and it clearly may’ve been 9.
The hole remains to be considerably vast, and at this level, not many will probably be questioning Liverpool successful the title ultimately. Nevertheless, there’s no hiding from the truth that issues aren’t going very properly for the Merseysiders in the intervening time. For Liverpool, equaling Manchester United’s 20-title file can have been a precedence from the beginning of the season, however the early Champions League exit and the Carabao Cup last loss will nonetheless have damage them mentally. The actual fact is, they’ve now misplaced three of their final 4 matches in all competitions, and Slot will certainly deem the state of issues unacceptable.
The primary alternative to begin making issues proper will come on Saturday, when Liverpool welcome West Ham to Anfield.
In the meantime, it’s a completely deserved victory for Fulham in opposition to the league leaders, and Silva will probably be pleased with the way in which his gamers fought and carried out total. With England set to have 5 groups within the Champions League subsequent season, those that end within the high seven are prone to make it into the continental competitions, and the Cottagers are absolutely aiming to be there.
Beating Liverpool is, after all, an ideal feat – solely Nottingham Forest had executed it – however the combat for the European spots will probably be a fierce one. Fulham are presently eighth with 48 factors, two lower than seven-placed Newcastle, however the Magpies have two matches in hand and can have an ideal probability to climb additional up on Monday, after they face relegation-battlers Leicester Metropolis.
