Liverpool v Fulham – Preview, Predictions, and Best Bets

Liverpool host Fulham in the English Premier League at Anfield on Wednesday. The Reds have won four successive league matches although they remain seven points off the top four. The Cottagers have lost six of their last eight matches and have created almost nothing in their last two fixtures. These sides played out a 2-2 draw in the reverse fixture.

Liverpool Form

Liverpool have had a strange season. They followed a shock 7-0 home win against Man Utd with four quite poor performances. They lost 1-0 to Bournemouth, 1-0 at Real Madrid, and 4-1 at Man City, before a fortunate 0-0 draw at Chelsea. They’ve come back to good form since then, putting up 3.96 xG with eight ‘big chances’ created in a 2-2 home draw with Arsenal from 2-0 down.

A 6-1 win at Leeds and a 3-2 home victory over Nottingham Forest followed despite all their goals and chances coming from set-plays in that win. After winning 2-1 at West Ham, they played out a thriller on Sunday. They led Tottenham 3-0 after 15 minutes but slowly lost control of that match and leaked a 93rd-minute equaliser. They somehow managed to prey on an error to immediately go 4-3 up and take the win.

Liverpool Team News

Central midfielders Naby Keita and Stefan Bajcetic are out injured, possibly for the rest of the season. Thiago Alcantara was missing vs Spurs and Jordan Henderson was benched. The latter could return in place of Harvey Elliott in the engine room.  

Diogo Jota has not been training but he could again feature from the bench as he did on Sunday. Roberto Firmino is expected to be missing with injury. Jurgen Klopp could start Luis Diaz again on the left wing in preference to Darwin Nunez.

Liverpool Motivation

The Reds need to win this match and hope that other results go their way in the top-four race. They have been playing very expansively of late with Alexander-Arnold in midfield and plenty of rotation in wide areas.

It can leave them vulnerable on the counter-attack but it does mean they are capable of scoring plenty of goals.

Fulham Form

After the World Cup hiatus, Fulham basically secured survival with a great run of form. They took 20 points from 10 fixtures and were just one point off the magical 40-point mark. It took five games to get that point as four league losses in a row followed. That included a 2-1 loss away to Bournemouth and losing 1-0 at home to poor travellers, West Ham.

With some changes to the attack, Fulham won successive matches after that. They won 3-1 at desperate Everton and then 2-1 at home to another relegation-threatened team in Leeds. The last two matches have largely been completely toothless displays. At Aston Villa, they lost 1-0 with 0.10 xG and only one shot all match. Then they hosted Man City and lost 2-1, putting up just 0.19 xG albeit with some reasonable pressure in City’s half at times.

Fulham Team News

Fulham are without top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic as he has served just six matches of his eight-match ban for pushing a referee. Carlos Vinicius, Bobby Decordova-Reid, and Dan James have all covered in recent weeks with minimal success. Vinicius did score vs Man City so should get the nod.

Unfortunately, two big injuries have hit Marco Silva’s side. Tim Ream is absent so Issa Diop will deputise at the back. Andreas Perreira’s season is over and Willian remains a doubt with a hamstring problem. Tom Cairney could get a very rare start in that number-ten role.

Fulham Motivation

With four key men set to be missing, Fulham may come into this match just trying to survive. They’ll look to get through the first 20 minutes and try to have some threat on the counter-attack.

Marco Silva will want to avoid a heavy defeat and a draw looks fanciful but would feel like a win.

Key Stats

Liverpool have scored 43 goals in 16 home matches this season (EPL)

Liverpool’s Salah has 9 goals in his last 10 league matches

Liverpool have won 4 league matches in a row, scoring 15 goals

Fulham have lost 7 of their last 9 matches in all competitions

Fulham have lost 3 of their last 4 away matches

Fulham have lost their last 3 matches at Anfield to zero

Verdict

The Cottagers are depleted for this match with key absences at centre-back, the attacking midfield areas, and upfront. Liverpool are scoring goals for fun, especially at home, and should win this match by a large margin.