Patchy Pool maintain slim top-four hopes
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates scoring their side's first goal of the game during the Premier League match at Anfield, Liverpool. Picture: Peter Byrne/PA Wire.
LIVERPOOL’S hopes of breaking into the top four may be faint but Jurgen Klopp’s side showed they are determined not to give up the chase.
Mohamed Salah’s first-half penalty- his tenth goal in his last 11 Premier League games - was enough to secure a fifth successive victory and while this was an often frustrating performance, they did enough to claim three more valuable points.
Victory moved Liverpool to within four points of Manchester United but Erik ten Hag’s side have played two games fewer. In the build up to the game Klopp refused to be drawn on whether Liverpool could close the gap to fourth place but Virgil van Dijk was less coy, playing down the Reds’s chances of securing a place in next season’s Champions League. “It's going to be very tough,” said the defender, before kick-off.
The Reds have shown more purpose in recent weeks and, just as they had against Tottenham, they started positively although on this occasion they were unable to establish the three-goal cushion that ultimately proved decisive on Sunday. But they also quickly showed signs of the defensive fragility that almost cost them against the north London side.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was prominent in a central role and quickly fired a couple of long-range shots. There were warning signs for the home side though when Kostas Tsimikas failed to track Harry Wilson’s run only for the Fulham winger to spurn the chance by opting to cross instead of going for goal.
Liverpool’s attacking play was swift and incisive and almost brought reward when Alexander-Arnold pulled another shot narrowly wide after being set up by Salah.
There was another warning for Klopp’s side, who had cause to be grateful for Alisson’s reactions when the keeper saved acrobatically from Carlos Vinicius.
Worryingly for Klopp, his side appeared to lose their way as the first half progressed while Fulham began to assert themselves just as they had in the narrow defeat to Manchester City last weekend.
While they continued to get into good positions going forward, the decision-making and quality of the final pass or finish was found wanting.
The 37th-minute breakthrough then could hardly have been better timed and came after Darwin Nunez hurried Issa Diop into conceding the foul that gave Salah the chance to finish from the penalty spot. Nunez closed down the Fulham defender who brought down the Liverpool forward as he attempted to clear and Salah made no mistake with a powerful spot-kick struck down the middle of Bernd Leno’s goal.
Diop made amends with a timely interception that prevented Salah’s cross finding Nunez as Fulham held on for the remaining moments of the first half. While Liverpool had dominated long periods Leno had remained largely untested and the visitors were entitled to be still in the game.
A positive start to the second period by the home side suggested they wanted to quickly add to their advantage but that initial momentum quickly faded after Nunez and Salah had both spurned half chances to add the second.
Fulham continued to show why they have made such a positive impression in their first season back in the Premier League. And had the suspended Aleksandar Mitrovic been available, they might have got more reward for their efforts.
And it came as little surprise that Klopp attempted to inject fresh life into his side’s performance by bringing on Cody Gakpo and Andy Robertson.
Liverpool upped their efforts in search of a second goal but they again were grateful for Alisson who produced another excellent save from Vinicius to protect the lead.
Alisson 8; Alexander-Arnold 7, Konate 7, van Dijk 6, Tsimikas 5 (Robertson 66, 6); Henderson 7, Fabinho 6, Jones 6 (Milner 84, 6); Salah 7 (Elliott 84, 6), Nunez 6 (Jota 84, 6), Diaz 6 (Gakpo 66, 6).
Gomez, Carvalho, Matip, Kelleher
Leno 6; Cedric 6, Adarabioyo 7, Diop 6, A Robinson 6; Lukic 6 (Reed 71, 6), Palhinha 8; Wilson 6 (Kebano 71, 6), Cairney 6 (De Cordova-Reid 71, 6), Willian 7; Vinicius 6.
Rodak, Tete, Duffy, Reed, Kebano, Solomon, Reid, James, Harris.
Stuart Attwell 6
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