The Details
Venue – Craven Cottage, Fulham
Referee – Craig Pawson
Date & Time – Sunday, March 17th @ 14:15
Current Odds – Fulham 11/1, Draw 6/1, Liverpool 1/4
Form
Fulham Form
Fulham have been in turmoil this season. Scott Parker is their third manager since the return to the Premier League.
The Cottagers have lost their last six games in a row and are 19th in the table with just 17 points for the season. Strangely, as you can see from the xG stats below, their best recent performance was probably during their 3-0 loss at home to Manchester United.
There is no doubt Fulham are returning to the Championship this summer. Let’s just hope The Reds give them a proper hiding on Sunday to return to the top of the Premier League.
Liverpool Form
Liverpool turned in an excellent second-half performance to knock Bayern Munich out of the Champions League on their home ground during the week.
The Reds may have let their Premier League lead slip with too many draws in recent weeks, however, with seven goals in their last two games, Liverpool, and Sadio Mané in particular, seem to have found their shooting boots again.
Now the form has to be maintained. If you can beat FC Bayern 3-1 at the Allianz Arena then you have to beat Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Liverpool look like they are set to do battle on both fronts (PL & CL) between now and May. Strap in!
Team News
Fulham Team News
Scott Parker will be without Alfie Mawson while Andre Schurrle could also miss out due to illness.
Parker will most likely stick with the 4-2-3-1 shape for Fulham.
Liverpool Team News
Joe Gomez, Jordan Henderson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are all out for Sunday’s game but all Henderson and The Ox are expected to be back fit and firing after the international break.
Naby Keita faces a late fitness test before it’s decided if he can play at Fulham.
Liverpool have no players suspended for this game.
Predicted XIs
Fulham XI (4-2-3-1) – Rico; Odoi, Nordtveit, Ream, Bryan; Chambers, McDonald; Babel, Cairney, Sessegnon; Mitrovic
Liverpool XI (4-3-3) – Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk(c), Robertson; Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Keita; Salah, Firmino, Mané
When they last met
Liverpool won 2-0 when the sides met at Anfield this season. Mohamed Salah and Xherdan Shaqiri scored the goals to win all three points for Klopp’s men that day.
The last time the teams played at Craven Cottage was the memorable 3-2 win for Liverpool as they chased the title in February 2014. Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho and Steven Gerrard were the scorers that day. Gerrard’s injury-time penalty was a particular highlight in the run-in that season.
Prediction
Fulham 0 – 4 Liverpool
Fulham had some unsavoury opinions published about Liverpool FC in their programme notes a couple of weeks back. It was strange to see the club publish such a negative view of Liverpool in their official match programme. It was unprofessional, bordering on pathetic from Fulham FC.
Therefore, I’m hoping the gulf in class between the two teams is more apparent than ever this Sunday. I’m backing The Reds to win well in London.
** Please note – “xGA” in the Form Stats tables symbolises “expected goals against” **
**All xG stats courtesy of Understat.com and FiveThirtyEight.com
