BEVERLY HILLS, March 07, (THEWILL) – The nightmare the Reds of Liverpool cannot wait to see the end of is continuing as for the sixth consecutive home tie, Jurgen Klopp’s charges find themselves on the losing side, and what is more, this time to a side in the very throes of a relegation battle and 18th in the league standings.
That side, Scott Parker’s Fulham, did themselves a huge favour by boosting their confidence, morale and survival chances as they stayed resolute to hand the defending champions another shocking loss on their own grounds, with Mario Lemina’s first-half goal enough to seal the victory.
For the umpteenth time, Liverpool’s makeshift and inexperienced defense could barely handle the what the forwards of the opposition threw at it, although this time Liverpool’s own deadly forward, Egyptian Mohamed Salah was at fault for the goal and could not himself dig the team from the hole his error left it.
If the Liverpool family still had minute hopes of some miracle in the Premiership giving them qualification for European elite football competition next season, this match was all that fantasy needed to face the reality that it is never going to happen.
Instead, the result was an illustration of contrasting fortunes. One side was sinking while the other was taking their chances to climb out of the relegation zone and demonstrate that they can survive in the premiership. Fulham had seemed dead and buried earlier in the season, but only goal difference is keeping them in the bottom three currently. They have a chance to survive and they are taking it with all they have.
They are unbeaten in their last eight Premier League away games, having won three and drawn six, which is their longest run without defeat on the road in their top-flight history. This makes them the on-form side in relegation battle. They must keep the momentum going to swim out of the bottom three and they must fancy their chances with this huge win.
Parker’s charges, unlike Klopp’s men, barely looked flustered across the entirety of the 90 minutes they held their own at Anfield. That owed a lot to some fine performances in the back four, most notably from Danish defender Joachim Andersen.
The Dane won all four of his duels, made a team-high four interceptions, the most important of all at the end to deny the Senegalese forward for Liverpool, Sadio Mane, a certain goal. He also led the fray with six clearances.
However, in the Reds’ team, the man Klopp entrusted defensive responsibilities in place of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Welshman Neco Williams, gave the ball away a team-high 26 times. He was no match for Fulham’s Ademola Lookman who peppered the backline of the hosts throughout. And, despite making as many passes in the opposition half as any Liverpool player, Williams was never a creative threat.
The degradation of quality at Anfield is starker when the stats of this season are isolated and analysed as Opta Joe provided. The six home league losses is their longest ever such run, while they are the first side to lose six in a row on home soil in the Premier League since Huddersfield Town’s seven in February 2019.
Also, Liverpool’s six league defeats at Anfield in 2020-21 is their most in a single campaign since 1953-54 (also six), when the Reds finished bottom of the top-flight. In addition, Fulham are the first newly-promoted side to win away at Liverpool in the Premier League since Blackpool beat Roy Hodgson’s Reds in October 2010, ending Liverpool’s run of 30 home league meetings with such opponents without defeat.
Klopp’s side is now winless in their last eight home games in the Premier League having also drawn two before these six defeats, only embarking on a longer winless top-flight run at Anfield once before, their 10-game winless run between October 1951 and March 1952.
The German manager must now begin to question his own tactics and reassess himself to arrest this team-wide nosedive. Then, they must all shake off the defeat to get set to head out to Budapest for their “home” leg UEFA Champions League last-16 tie against RB Leipzig on Wednesday. They must win the UCL of they are to see top-flight European competition next season.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
