Fulham and Liverpool will lock horns at the Craven Cottage in London for their fourth meeting in all competitions this season. The Cottagers have blown hot and cold all through the campaign and are looking to finish the season on a strong note.
Fulham’s season started on the best of notes with a 1-0 win over Everton at Goodison Park. A comprehensive 3-0 win over Fulham and a draw against Arsenal followed at the Emirates before a 5-1 bashing at the hands of champions Man City at the Etihad. The Cottagers returned to winning ways with an important 1-0 win over Luton Town before failing to win their next two Premier League games against Palace and Chelsea. After that, they only won one of their next five games to drop further down the table.
To round things up in 2023, Fulham lost two of their final three Premier League games with the only win coming against Arsenal at the Craven Cottage. Meanwhile, they had a good run in the Carabao Cup and got to the semi-finals of the tournament before they were thrown out of the competition by Liverpool. In their first PL game of 2024, they lost 1-0 to Chelsea and there will be the desire to build on some of the decent performances in recent weeks. It has been a mixed season for them and as of the time of writing, things performance and results have not been encouraging.
After the underwhelming season last campaign, Liverpool, during the summer, started their squad rebuild and a few exits happened, primarily to the Saudi Pro League. Former captain Jordan Henderson joined Al-Ettifaq alongside club legend Steven Gerrard, while Roberto Firmino and Fabinho headed to Al-Ahli Saudi and Al-Ittihad, respectively. In terms of recruitment, Klopp decided to strengthen the squad with the signing of Hungarian captain Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig, World Cup winner Alexis MacAllister from Brighton and Hove Albion, Ryan Gravenberch from Bayern Munich, and Wataru Endo joining the ranks from the Bundesliga.
The Reds signalled their title challenge intentions with a 1-1 draw with Chelsea in their season opener, and that was followed by five consecutive wins against Bournemouth, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Wolves, and West Ham. The first league defeat of the season came controversially at Tottenham before another draw with Brighton. However, Klopp’s side bounced back with victories against Everton, Nottingham Forest, Luton Town, Brentford, Fulham, and Sheffield, and a hard-fought win over Crystal Palace that saw Salah score his 200th goal for the club.
To get things off in 2024, the Reds have already beaten Bournemouth 4-0 on the road in the Premier League and booked their place in the Carabao Cup final with Chelsea to come in February. The Reds also thumped Chelsea 4-1 in the league before losing 3-1 to Arsenal to see their lead at the top reduced. After about two seasons of struggle, it seems things are getting back to normal for the Anfield side. With Jurgen Klopp set to leave at the end of the season, the side will be keen to finish the season on a strong note. They are firmly in the title race alongside Arsenal and Manchester City, so there is no room for slip-ups.
The three previous times the two sides met, it was interesting to watch and the second installment in the Premier League is expected to be filled with its drama.Â
Match tickets
The epic match at Craven Cottage in Fulham kicks off on Saturday 20th April 2024, at 3 PM UK time.Â
The 25-700-capacity stadium will be playing host to this fixture between the Premier League strugglers and the title challengers.
Getting tickets for the Fulham v Liverpool tickets could take a lot of work given the standard of this game. Hence, you are advised to search ticket reselling sites should they be expectedly sold out on each club’s channels.Â
Team news
Line-ups
Head coach Marco Silva has missed winger Adama Traore for most of the current season. Generally, the Londoners have only missed a couple of players due to injuries. Raul Jimenez, who was not at his best initially, did well with some decent performances before injury struck again. However, he will be hoping to find the season on a high. The Likes of Alex Iwobi and Calvin Bassey who have been good this campaign will be hoping they can round up the season quite well.
Fulham XI: Leno(GK); Robinson, Bassey, Diop, Castagne; Palhinha, Lukic; Willian, Pereira, Iwobi; Jimenez.
Liverpool have had several injuries this season and players have taken turns to be fit for games. Spanish midfielder Stefan Bajcetic, who was making his mark this term, suffered a nasty calf injury which has put him out of action for a while. Diogo Jota has been a regular in the physio’s room this term. Meanwhile, Joel Matip is, unfortunately, out for the season due to an anterior cruciate ligament rupture.
In midfield, Thiago Alcantara has barely played this season, while the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai, and Andy Robertson, who remains a long-term absentee due to a shoulder injury, could have returned to feature in this match. Konstantinos Tsimikas is also injured and could be back before this game.Â
Liverpool: Alison Becker, Ibrahim Konate, Virgil Van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ryan Gravenberch, Wataru Endo, Dominik Szoboszlai, Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, and Mohammed Salah.
Prediction
With the season nearing its conclusion, the focus is getting a bit different but for Liverpool it is all about the title and how they can give Jurgen Klopp a befitting send-off gift. The Reds have the quality, form, and talent to beat any side at the moment, so Fulham might not be in the best position to trouble despite their 1-1 draw in the Carabao Cup here.
If Liverpool can find their rhythm, they can easily walk away with all three points here.
Fulham 1-3 Liverpool
