Just two days after beating Atletico Madrid 2-1 in their Champions League opener, Liverpool return to Anfield looking to carry that confidence into domestic business. Andoni Iraola’s side sit sixth in the Premier League with five points from three games, four behind pace-setters Manchester City and Arsenal. Fulham, managed by Alvaro Arbeloa, arrive with nothing from their first three outings and already sitting in the relegation zone. The contrast in momentum between these two sides is about as sharp as it gets this early in the season.
What’s at stake
Liverpool are four points off the top two, Manchester City and Arsenal, who both sit on nine points after three perfect starts. A win at Anfield would lift the Reds to eight points and push them back into genuine early-season title contention. Brentford, Newcastle, Everton and Leeds are all clustered on five points alongside Liverpool, so the table from fifth to ninth could be reshuffled significantly by Saturday evening.
For Fulham, the stakes are different and more urgent. Three losses in three Premier League games, seven goals conceded against four scored, and the club already sitting in 19th with a relegation marker next to their name. A result at Anfield would be the platform Arbeloa’s squad badly needs to believe they belong at this level. A fourth consecutive defeat would deepen a hole that still has plenty of time to climb out of, but will become harder to ignore with every passing week.
How they got here
Liverpool’s last five results tell a story of a team finding its rhythm. The 2-1 win over Atletico in the Champions League opener followed two Premier League draws, against Nottingham Forest at home and Newcastle away, both finishing 2-2, before a 2-0 road win at Ipswich. Alexandre Isak leads the club’s Premier League scoring chart with three goals in three games. Fulham’s recent run is harder to put a positive spin on: three Premier League losses, including a 2-3 home defeat to Crystal Palace and a 0-1 loss at newly promoted Sunderland. Their only wins in the last five came against AFC Wimbledon in the League Cup and German side VfB Stuttgart in pre-season.
In the table, Liverpool sit sixth on five points, three behind Chelsea in fourth and four off the top two. Fulham are 19th on zero points, level with Coventry at the bottom and one below Tottenham on one point. The gap to safety is three points at this stage, which is entirely recoverable, but only if results start turning around soon.
Key battle to watch
Fulham’s midfield will be under serious pressure to limit the space Liverpool’s central runners get in transition. Iraola’s team scored six goals in three league games and added two more against Atletico in Europe, showing the attacking machinery is clicking. Emile Smith Rowe and Alex Iwobi will need to do significant defensive work alongside Sander Berge and Tom Cairney if Fulham are going to stay compact and hold Liverpool below the level they have been operating at. Any gaps in the first twenty minutes at Anfield, especially off a high press, could set the tone early and put Arbeloa’s team in a position from which they have already shown, twice in the league, they cannot recover.
Key Stats
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Standings
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Our Prediction
Liverpool’s home record in this fixture is strong, five wins from the last ten meetings, and they arrive with confidence built from back-to-back wins over Ipswich and Atletico Madrid. Fulham have conceded seven in three games and face an attack that has not stopped scoring. Iraola’s side should be able to control this one from early on, with Isak the obvious threat to watch in front of goal.