Fulham v Liverpool: Premier League – live!

44 min: Chance! After another good spell in posession from Liverpool, Alexander-Arnold found Salah with a great low cross from the right. Salah’s first touch was exquisite, allowing him to turn quickly and then immediately fire a low, lefty drive. He sent his shot wide.

41 min: Suddenly, the game has opened up as both teams had huge opportunities within seconds of each other. After Liverpool’s patient build-up, Fulham broke fast yet again, eventually finding Lookman on the left flank. He flitted to the touchline, then produced a brilliant cross.

Seconds later, Mane had the first proper opportunity for Liverpool. A great cross by Jones from deep found the Senegalese, but he sent his header over the bar from close distance.

38 min: Liverpool have seen more of the ball again over the past few minutes. Andy Robertson eventually whipped in two crosses within 20 seconds. Both were cleared by a compact, disciplined Fulham defence.

From Nigel in Toronto:

Hi – started to write this before the goal (honest). Was just going to say that this is the best Fulham has played all season.

Oh, I believe you. This has been an exceptional start from Fulham.

Total shots:

Fulham – 6

Liverpool – 1

According to Sky Sports, Liverpool have not yet had a touch inside the Fulham box, which is perhaps not ideal.

32 min Chance! An incredible save from Alisson to keep out a strike from Adarabioyo after a brilliant free kick from Cavaleiro. He was eventually called for offside, but these are nervous moments for Liverpool.

29 min: This has just been a suffocating 10 minutes from Fulham. First it was Lookman who generated consecutive corners, first with some brilliant skill on the left and then by cutting in from the left and firing a vicious strike from distance.

It was after that second corner that the ball was cleared Reid picked it up outside of the box, moving forward a few paces before demolishing it into the back of the net. Liverpool have been caught sleeping so far today. Can Fulham get another before they rise?

It was coming, and it came with an incredible strike from Reid, which he demolished into the top left hand corner from just inside the box.

23 min: Lookman is having a hell of a lot of fun on the left flank so far today. He wins a corner for Fulham, but not after beating Firminho and Alexander-Arnold. In the end Fabinho had to move over and scupper the danger.

Sadly for Fulham, the corner came to nothing.

20 min: Fulham captain Andersen gets the first yellow card of the day after a poor tackle on Henderson.

19 min Marriner judges Fabinho to have touched the ball in his sliding tackle on Cavaleiro. No penalty.

17 min We have our first VAR call after a challenge from Fabinho on Cavaleiro inside the box. Andre Marriner is off to check the screen. We wait.

15 min: Another big chance for Fulham on the break, with Lookman threading in Cavaleiro from the left. Another great chance for Cavaleiro goes straight at the keeper.

Although Liverpool have held more of the possession over the past 5 minutes, Fulham look far more likely to score right now.

13 min: Liverpool are still just patiently probing Fulham at the moment. This time. Fabinho attempts a long ball to catch a Salah run. He just overshoots it, allowing Fulham keeper Areola to pick it up.

10 min After a smooth, patient spell in possession, Liverpool move the ball up the right flank and Salah picks up the ball in the box for the first time after a great cross from Alexander-Arnold. It comes to nothing as Salah is called offside but this has been a very good spell.

7 min: Liverpool have settled down after the energetic start from Fulham, with Wijnaldum and Henderson both retaining the ball well and Liverpool acquiring more of the possession.

5 min The first big chance of the game also goes to Fulham after an excellent break on the right flank. A lovely through ball from Ruben Loftus-Cheek to put Ivan Cavaleiro one on one with Alisson. His strike was just too close to the Liverpool goalkeeper, who confidently saved.

3 min: The first shot goes Mario Lemina, striking wide from distance after the ball was cleared to him from a free kick. Within seconds, Fulham have the ball back and are passing progressively up the pitch. This is very good.

2 min: An energetic start from Fulham, immediately winning the ball and pressuring Liverpool deep into their half. Anguissa is already pulling the strings for the home side, as expected.

The players are having a minute of applause in the memory of the late Papa Bouba Diop, who played 76 games for Fulham between 2004 and 2007.

Jurgen Klopp just spoke on Sky Sports.

On the injured Diogo Jota:

“Yeah, it’s worse than we first thought and better than we then [later] thought. No surgery needed, but he will be out for a while. We don’t know exactly but one and a half, two months.”

On Fulham being a quality side (and Scott Parker’s looks):

“I’m not the only one who saw that. They’re really good. Good looking football team like the managr […] everything is nice, the shirts, everything aside from their results so far. But the way that they play, really, it’s impressive.”

Over in South London, Tottenham draw 1-1 at Crystal Palace after a brilliant goalkeeping performance in the dying minutes from Crystal Palace’s Vicente Guaita.

Liverpool will go top with a win over Fulham today.

Liverpool and Fulham last faced each other 21 months ago when Liverpool beat Fulham 1-2 at Craven Cottage. It feels like a decade has passed.

Here are Scott Parker’s pre-match comments on Fulham’s match-up with Liverpool

“We’re always confident. We are where we are in the table. But we’re confident going into every game. There’s no denying we’re playing one of the best teams in Europe over the last 18 months. But like last week, we’ll go into the game trying to cause them problems.”

On crowds:

“It will have a massive impact to be fair, it has been such a long time since stadiums have been empty. For large parts of our careers players and managers play with fans. That is what our game is about really, the passion our fans bring.

“We had a long and hard season last year and a crucial point of that when we was getting promoted and went to Wembley our fans weren’t there to enjoy it. We are looking forward to it and hopefully they are as well.”

After only returning to training on Friday, Alisson is straight back into the first team while Oxlade-Chamberlain predictably starts on the bench. Otherwise, an unsurprising lineup from Jürgen Klopp with Trent Alexander-Arnold making his first league start since Liverpool faced Manchester City on November 8th.

Only one change for Fulham from last week’s loss to Manchester City with Mario Lemina replacing Harrison Reed in centre midfield.

Team news:

Fulham (3-4-1-2): Areola, Aina, Andersen, Adarabioyo, Cordova-Reid, Anguissa, Lemina, Robinson, Loftus-Cheek, Lookman, Cavaleiro

Subs: Kebano, Cairney, Rodak, Ream, Reed, Bryan, Kamara

Liverpool (4-3-3): Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Fabinho, Robertson, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Jones, Salah, Firmino, Mane

Subs: Oxlade-Chamberlain, Minamino, Origi, Phillips, Kelleher, Cain, Williams

Fulham had no fans to celebrate with as they conquered Wembley, winning promotion back to the Premier League a few months ago, and the support would have certainly helped as they first navigated an extremely difficult first season back in the top flight. Finally, 2000 supporters will return to Craven Cottage today to see their team against the defending champions Liverpool.

There is ample reason to be hopeful after Fulham’s excellent win against Leicester City at the end of November lifted them out of the bottom three, but what a tough pair of games to follow as they attempt to build some momentum and improve on their current precarious spot at 17th in the table. Manchester City were far too good last week with a 2-0 win that could have been far more emphatic and on the evidence of Liverpool’s 4-0 win against Wolves last Sunday, this will be incredibly tough once more.

Despite their injury list and Jürgen Klopp’s numerous disgruntled comments on scheduling and VAR over the past month, on the pitch Liverpool’s form is building and clearly intend to continue putting maximum pressure on Tottenham at the top of the league. They will attempt to do so today with the very welcome boost of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Alisson returning to the squad after injuries.