In the match against Atalanta in the middle of the week, Liverpool already showed small signs of starting to recover from the hole. Mohamed Szalah scored a penalty in the early stages of the match, but Liverpool were left in debt for the third game in a row with an action goal, so despite their 1-0 victory, they were eliminated from the Europa League. After that, the English star team only competed in the Premier League. Even there, they are a step behind, as Manchester City already led by two points before the 34th round, and the third champion, Arsenal, drew their match against Wolverhampton on Saturday.
his return means a lot to Liverpool. Photo: EPA/Vince Mignott
According to Jurgen Klopp, he liked what he saw from his team in the match against Atalanta. Yet he changed his starting line-up for Sunday’s winner against Fulham, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis MacAllister, Curtis Jones and Mohamed Szalah are out, while Jarell Quansah, Harvey Elliott, Wataru Endo, Ryan Gravenberch and Diogo Jota are in.
Liverpool won with beautiful goals
This match was more or less according to the usual scenario: Liverpool possessed the ball much more, but did not go far with it. He was able to create few chances, only Luis Díaz and Cody Gakpo tried one each in the first 35 minutes.
And Trent Alexander-Arnold’s goal. The return of the English defender gave the Reds a boost, in addition to his pinpoint passes, his free kicks are also worth their weight in gold, as he proved again when he curled into the upper right corner from twenty meters in the 32nd minute.
In the final minutes of the first half, Fulham took control and it was quickly rewarded. There was a commotion in front of Liverpool’s goal, the rebound after numerous attempts was shot by Timothy Castagne into the lower right corner.
A goal before the break could have caught the visitors, but Ryan Gravenberch made sure it didn’t happen that way. The Dutch midfielder quickly scored in the second half, and his goal in the Premier League was impressive: he bombed into the upper left corner from twenty meters after Harvey Elliott’s pass.
And by the time Darwin Núnez, Szalah and Mac Allister came on in the 74th minute, Liverpool were already leading by two goals. Gakpo teased Jota, and Bernd Leno could only reach the Portuguese attacker’s shot to the lower right, but not save it.
Dominik Szoboszlai entered the field in the 86th minute, after which the result did not change. Liverpool thus won 3-1, thus reaching the points leader Arsenal, which leads the Premier League thanks to its better goal difference. Manchester City is third, one point behind, with one game less to play.
Fulham remained in twelfth place.