Craven Cottage has already been the scene of one of Liverpool’s most celebrated occasions this season. Now, as the Reds prepare for their latest Thameside appointment, they are in need of another landmark result.
Jurgen Klopp’s side take on Fulham in the knowledge anything but victory would deal a major blow to their hopes of claiming a second Premier League crown of his tenure.
Recent results have changed the mood around Anfield and the fanbase, not least a first home Premier League defeat since October 2022 last Sunday when beaten 1-0 by Crystal Palace. That Arsenal shortly afterwards lost 2-0 at home to Aston Villa only heightened the sense of missed opportunity, those results paving the way for Manchester City to go clear at the summit and become favourites to win a fourth successive title.
All three contenders, though, this week suffered quarter-final elimination from European competition, City and Arsenal dumped out of the Champions League by Real Madrid and Bayern Munich respectively while Liverpool failed to recover a 3-0 first-leg deficit in their Europa League return against Atalanta in Italy.
“We have all the reasons to be disappointed,” says captain Virgil van Dijk. “But it’s our own fault. We were very disappointed last week and we made it a big hurdle to overcome. We tried everything – worked, fought – but it wasn’t good enough and wasn’t enough. It’s now about switching it back on and going again on Sunday.
“What went wrong? It’s not one factor, it’s multiple. We’re all human beings, we all want to do well, keep clean sheets and score goals. But we are where we are and the situation is what it is. There are six games remaining, we have to give it everything and we will give it everything.”
Van Dijk adds: “It’s a big six games! Anything is still possible. We have to focus on each game as they come. Thursday was a big task we tried to overcome but like I said, disappointed we couldn’t turn it around.
“The two results before Thursday were disappointing. Don’t forget that we want to do well. When the games don’t go well and we’re on the other side – obviously didn’t happen many times this season – we all have to switch it back on. There were a lot of good things in Italy but not good enough. Time to recover now and be ready for Sunday. We have to focus on ourselves like we always have been doing and that never changes.”
Back in January, Liverpool held off a late Fulham fightback to earn a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage and secure a place in the League Cup final with a 3-2 aggregate success. But so narrow are the margins in the title race, victories are now assuming even greater significance, with this the first of three away games inside a week for the Reds.
Liverpool’s struggle to overcome the Cottagers and book a Wembley date mirrored events at Anfield the previous month in the Premier League, when they scored twice in the closing minutes to earn a 4-3 win over Marco Silva’s side. And the Reds have drawn their most recent three trips to the Londoners while failing to keep a clean sheet in their last eight league visits.
One bonus from the win in Atalanta was a first shut-out in 10 games, although there has only been one in the last 11 Premier League matches. And while Mohamed Salah netted from the spot after just seven minutes in Italy, the Reds have scored only two goals in the opening 15 minutes of a league game this season – an indication of the slow starts that have so often seen Klopp’s side concede first.
Salah missed a good chance to double Liverpool’s advantage before half-time on Thursday, continuing a recent theme of the Reds being unable to turn domination into goals. Klopp, though, believes it is a collective issue rather than one to be blamed on their top scorer.
“We always had that in the past, was it Sadio, was it Bobby, was it Mo, one of them always had these spells, but then the other guys stepped in and nobody spoke about it really,” says the Reds boss.
