Liverpool’s 4-0 win against Wolves last week was their biggest win of the league season so far and they follow that up with a Sunday trip to a Fulham side who sit 17th in the Premier League.
Liverpool are unbeaten in their last seven games but will be without forward Diogo Jota who suffered a knock in their UEFA Champions League game against Midtjylland on Wednesday.
It’s a big blow for the Reds whose injury issues had begun to ease slightly with the return of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Jota looks set to miss out on Liverpool’s clash with Tottenham Hotspur next week, a fixture that has title implications.
It’s difficult to not have one eye on the Tottenham game if you are a Liverpool player but Jurgen Klopp said he hopes his players stay focus on the Fulham fixture and not have a wandering eye on next week’s top of the table clash.
“I hope none of our players will think about [the subsequent match against] Tottenham when we are in Fulham, to be honest,” he stated.
“The situation is like it is at the top of the table, everywhere in the table pretty much, there is not a lot of distance in between. We know that and I don’t have to tell the boys constantly.
“Fulham are a really good football-playing side and the performances they showed were not all rewarded with results. The fight for staying in the league is a tight one as well, so each point helps, and they will go for everything.
If we let them play, they will play and the more we let them play, the more we have to defend and the more you have to defend, the more you have to run. All of these kind of things, we have to be really spot on in this game.”
Fulham spent just one season in the Sky Bet Championship before returning to the Premier League after a year out. That season they were in the Premier League, Liverpool did the double over them, defeating them 2-0 and 2-1 in closely fought fixtures to the credit of Fulham.
Their return hasn’t been so welcoming this year as they sit 17th in the table with just two wins in 11 games this season. Only two sides in the Premier League have conceded more goals than Fulham (21).
They lost 2-0 to Manchester City in their last fixture but scored an impressive 2-1 away victory over Leicester City prior to the Man City game.
Fulham are not one to be glossed over but I think Liverpool take all three points in a 1-0 win.
Odds on a Fulham home win open at an under-whelming +800. Odds on a Liverpool win open at -333. Odds on a draw between the two sides open at +450.
