Liverpool score three against Fulham to keep pace in title race

Liverpool kept pace in the Premier League title race with a 3-1 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s sumptuous free-kick on 32 minutes opened the scoring, but the Reds were pegged back on the stroke of half-time as Cottagers right-back Timothy Castagne slotted home after the visitors could not get an Alex Iwobi cutback clear.

With Jurgen Klopp turning to his bench, where his big hitters – Mohamed Salah, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Darwin Nunez – sat, it was Ryan Gravenberch who put Liverpool back in the driving seat with a curling effort on 54 minutes to restore their advantage.

Diogo Jota broke free down the left channel with 18 minutes remaining, and his low drive squirmed through Bernd Leno to make it three and secure the victory that keeps Klopp’s side in the hunt for the title.

The Reds are now up to second in the table, off the top only on goal difference, with themselves and table-toppers Arsenal even on 74 points.

Liverpool were not in top gear by any means, but they didn’t have to be in what proved a relatively straightforward afternoon for them.

Fulham posed some threat on the counter-attack, but their spurts of danger were few and far between as the visitors’ quality told.

What told further, was their strength in depth.

Klopp decided to drop his star names – Salah, Nunez, Szoboszlai, and Mac Allister – in favour of more rotational options, and two of them delivered, with Jota and Gravenberch, both of whom have been plagued with injuries this term, doing the business.

A polished performance when the pressure was piling.

After two real setbacks in the last couple of weeks, Klopp needed a reaction and a cool head to step up to the plate.

His right-back was just the man to do so, striking a superb set piece into the top corner to send the Reds on their way.

Fulham: Leno 7, Castagne 6, Adarabioyo 6, Bassey 6, Robinson 7, Palhinha 6, Lukic 5, Iwobi 5, Pereira 6, D-Reid 6, Muniz 6. Subs: Wilson 6, Cairney 6, Traore 6.

Liverpool: Alisson 6, A-Arnold 8, Quansah 6, van Dijk 7, Robertson 6, Endo 6, Elliott 6, Gravenberch 7, Gakpo 7, Jota 7, Diaz 7. Subs: Nunez 6, Salah 6, Mac Allister 6, Szoboszlai 6, Gomez 6.

32′: GOAL! FULHAM 0-1 LIVERPOOL (ALEXANDER-ARNOLD) Beautiful from Trent Alexander-Arnold! Liverpool are ahead, and it’s that man once more from a dead ball. He bends it beautifully into the top corner, beyond the helpless clasp of Bernd Leno!

34′: GOOD SAVE! Liverpool come again down that left side and Gakpo shifts it onto his right and rockets one towards the near post, which Leno is equal to.

45+3′: GOAL! FULHAM 1-1 LIVERPOOL (CASTAGNE) Fulham are level, and it’s Castagne! Robinson delivers into the middle for Muniz, and it comes for Iwobi on the far side. His cutback isn’t cleared, and Castagne steps onto it, and slots into the far corner on the sidefoot!

54′: GOAL! FULHAM 1-2 LIVERPOOL (GRAVENBERCH) Liverpool are back in front, and it’s Gravenberch with a stunner! They needed that urgently, and Iwobi’s pass from the edge of his own area is poorly into the path of Elliott. He wraps it into Gravenberch at pace, and the Dutchman gathers, before bending it beautifully inside the near post for his first Premier League goal.

73′: GOAL! FULHAM 1-3 LIVERPOOL (JOTA) It’s three, and Diogo Jota has his goal! Sent through down the left channel by Gakpo, the Portuguese drives into the box with Bassey in hot pursuit. He goes for the low drive, and it squirms through Leno on its way in.