Match Preview
Liverpool vrs Fulham
Premier League Match Day 16 24_25 at Anfield
Saturday 14th December 2024, KO: 15:00
Referee:
Tony Harrington (Cleveland)
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Fulham travel to Anfield on Saturday on the back of a win and two draws, Arsenal and Tottenham were the draws and they beat Brighton 3-1 at The Cottage. Table topping Liverpool have only lost one game so far this season which was a home game against Nottingham Forest.
Marco Silva's men did give Liverpool plenty of frights across their four meetings last season, leading 3-2 with 10 minutes to play at Anfield before a 4-3 loss, while also taking the lead in the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final.
Fulham were also one of the six clubs who beat Liverpool at Anfield during their bizarre run of form at the start of 2021, but they are still yet to beat the Reds here in front of a crowd.
That win was also before Silva joined the club, and he has only ever won one of his 11 meetings with Liverpool as a manager, and losing 5-2 at Anfield as Everton manager in 2019 ultimately saw him sacked.
It was his Fulham team that handed Liverpool a big helping hand in the title race last Sunday though, holding Arsenal to a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage, avoiding defeat late on thanks to a VAR offside call which ruled out Bukayo Saka's goal.
That took Fulham to 23 points after 15 games, the second-best tally in their Premier League history, only behind the 25 they collected at this point of the 2003-04 season, where they ultimately finished ninth.
Despite that fine points tally, and losing just one of their last seven games, Fulham are still down in 10th, but the congested nature of the Premier League top half means they are just four points behind Man City in the top four.
Liverpool return to Premier League action after the postponement of the Merseyside derby.
Arne Slot's men saw their fixture be the only one in the top flight to fall victim to Storm Darragh, but even without playing, it was still a positive weekend for the Premier League leaders.
Not being in action means Liverpool will have a game in hand over their title rivals for the next two months at least, and that will be a great opportunity for the Reds given that both Arsenal and Manchester City dropped points last week.
With City in complete crisis, their race almost looks run already, meaning Chelsea are now the closest challengers, four points behind Liverpool after their 4-3 win at Tottenham Hotspur.
Arsenal and City failing to win mitigated the impact of Liverpool dropping two points in the final minute away to Newcastle United last midweek - just the third time in 21 games that they had failed to win under Slot.
The Dutch manager's dream start continued in midweek though, with Mohamed Salah's penalty sealing a 1-0 win at Girona, meaning they still have a 100% record in the Champions League after six games.
Returning to home soil will be an even bigger confidence boost, considering the defeat to Nottingham Forest in September remains the only time they have not won across their last 13 at Anfield.
Defensive frailty has raised some questions in recent weeks, but they are making up for that by being clinical in attack, having now scored two or more goals in seven straight Premier League games - their best streak in over three years.
They could still break their Premier League goalscoring record for a calendar year with four games left in 2024, sitting 12 short of the record 88 they put up across 2019.
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Fulham's only win in their past 14 matches against Liverpool in all competitions was by 1-0 in the Premier League at Anfield in March 2021.
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The Cottagers have triumphed on just two of their 38 visits to Anfield in all competitions.
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Liverpool won three meetings in this fixture last season - both Premier League games and a 2-1 home victory as part of a 3-2 aggregate success in the League Cup semi-finals.
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Twenty three points is Fulham's second-highest tally after 15 matches of a Premier League season.
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Fulham can remain unbeaten in four consecutive Premier League away games for the first time since a run of eight from December 2020 to March 2021 under Scott Parker. The final fixture in that run was a 1-0 win at Anfield.
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The Cottagers are on a club top-flight record run of scoring in 14 successive games. It is the joint longest current scoring streak along with Chelsea.
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Raul Jimenez has scored 12 goals in his last 21 Premier League starts for Fulham. However, he's netted just once in nine top-flight appearances against Liverpool and has failed to score in five outings at Anfield.
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Marco Silva's first match as a manager against Liverpool was Hull City's 2-0 Premier League home victory in February 2017. Silva is winless in 10 subsequent games versus the Reds, losing all five away fixtures.
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A Liverpool win would give Arne Slot a record 38 points by a manager from his first 15 Premier League matches. The current record is 37, held by John Gregory and Antonio Conte.
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Liverpool have won 19 of their 22 games in all competitions under Slot, including 10 of their 11 home fixtures.
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The Reds have kept four consecutive home clean sheets in all competitions for the first time since a run of five from November to December 2021. The current run includes shutting out the reigning champions of Germany, Spain and England - Bayer Leverkusen, Real Madrid and Manchester City.
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Since the start of last season, only Manchester City have won more points from losing positions than Liverpool's 36.
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Alisson has conceded only three goals in his nine Liverpool appearances this season, in contrast to Caoimhin Kelleher letting in 10 in 12 games.
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Mohamed Salah could become just the fourth Premier League player to score in eight successive matches, after Ruud van Nistelrooy (twice), Jamie Vardy (twice), and Daniel Sturridge.xxxxxx
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Source Andrew Delaney at SportsMole/BBCSports