After a chastening evening in Paris in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal against Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool return to Premier League action on Saturday afternoon against Fulham at Anfield, as they continue their battle to finish in the top five and secure a place in next season’s Champions League.
It’s been a horrid week for Liverpool, having been eliminated from the FA Cup with a 4-0 loss to Manchester City before a 2-0 defeat in Paris that could have been even worse.
Liverpool are currently fifth in the Premier League, with 49 points from 31 games. They have one point more than Chelsea, while both Brentford and Everton are just three points behind and Fulham a further two points away. Arne Slot’s team have no more room for error in the Premier League, and that is a problem for them, because in the last few months, they have been an error-strewn team.
Here’s everything you need to know about the match.
How to watch
The match will be broadcast on Sky Sports in the UK, NBC in the U.S., JioHotstar in India and Stan Sport in Australia. You can also follow ESPN’s live coverage here.
Key Details
Kick-off time: Saturday, April 11, at 5:30 p.m. BST (12:30 p.m. ET; 10.00 p.m. IST; and 2:30 a.m. AEST, Sunday)
Venue: Anfield, Liverpool
Referee: Anthony Taylor
VAR: Stuart Attwell
Injury News
Liverpool
Alisson Becker – muscle injury, OUT.
Conor Bradley – knee injury, OUT.
Giovanni Leoni – knee, OUT.
Stefan Bajcetic – hamstring, OUT.
Wataru Endo – ankle, OUT.
Fulham
Kevin – leg, OUT
Kenny Tete – foot, DOUBT
Talking PointsWhere is Liverpool’s next goal coming from?
In their last four games across competitions, Liverpool have scored two goals. Those have come from a superb Dominik Szoboszlai free kick against Tottenham Hotspur, and a Lewis Dunk mistake for Brighton and Hove Albion, While they did miss a couple of chances in the first half against Manchester City in the FA Cup last week, they mustered an xG of just 0.22 in the 90 minutes against PSG.
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Slot: Liverpool were in survival mode vs. PSG
Arne Slot reacts to Liverpool’s 2-0 defeat against PSG in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals.
Slot won’t set his team up as defensively against Fulham as he did against PSG, but concerns over Liverpool being a sustained goal threat persist. Too many games this season have meandered along without Liverpool providing a sustained threat on the opposition goal. One solution could lie in the return of record signing Alexander Isak, depending on how many minutes he is able to play after coming off the bench in midweek.
Fulham are rested; Liverpool aren’t
Fulham last played a game on March 21, when they won 3-1 against Burnley. By the time they go to Anfield, it will have been 20 days since that game. While there was the international break in between, Fulham’s players will undoubtedly be fresher than their Liverpool counterparts.
It is an advantage that Marco Silva’s side need to use, particularly against a Liverpool side that have struggled in high-intensity situations. If Fulham can prevent Liverpool from dominating the ball, there’s a chance of them taking something from an Anfield visit for the second season in a row.
Will Slot rotate his pack?
Liverpool are in a situation where the Premier League is as important as the Champions League quarterfinal second leg in midweek. So, even as they go into a third game this week, Slot doesn’t have the luxury of rotating as much as he’d surely like. Up front, he’s got options in Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo to come back into this side. Curtis Jones is a option to start in midfield ahead of either Ryan Gravenberch or Alexis Mac Allister. Andy Robertson may come into the side ahead of Milos Kerkez.
But with Alexander Isak unlikely to be ready for a start, Hugo Ekitike — who has looked weary in recent times — will likely have to start up front again.
The anti-climactic Salah farewellMohamed Salah will leave Liverpool at the end of the season. Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images
For one of Liverpool’s greatest players of the Premier League era, this has been a torrid farewell season for Mohamed Salah. He’s never been the kind of player to take kindly to being benched — even less so in a Champions League quarterfinal.
Slot made the call to sacrifice an attacking player for an extra body in defence for that game in Paris, but is unlikely to do so against Fulham. So Salah will likely come back to take his place on the wing. Unless Liverpool turn that tie against PSG around, Salah has eight games left in his Liverpool career. After nine glorious years at Anfield, both the Egyptian and his adoring Anfield faithful will hope for an explosion of form at the end of a difficult run.
What do the numbers say?
Arne Slot has never beaten Fulham in three meetings so far in his time as Liverpool manager, drawing two and losing one of those three games.
Fulham have won just two of their last 32 away games against Liverpool.
Fulham and Liverpool have conceded the joint-most goals in the last 20 minutes of Premier League games this season — 18.
Only Manchester United‘s Bruno Fernandes, with 73, has created more chances from open play in the Premier League this season than Florian Wirtz‘s 47.
Harry Wilson has been involved in 16 goals for Fulham in the Premier League this season.