Fulham 2 Liverpool 2
What a goal to equalise. After Gakpo scored what most people would have assumed to be the winner, the last person you would think to score a goal of the season contender is Harrison Reed, someone who’s only featured in 3 Premier League matches for Fulham this season and the Liverpool players must have thinking the same giving him a free shot from probably over 30 yards and did he make the most of it, he’s probably never going to hit a shot like that again but what a time to do it as Liverpool just scored in the 95th minute to take what everyone thought was 3 points back to Anfield which probably would have harsh on Fulham with the way the game went but what a moment for Harrison Reed and Fulham.
Was Florian Wirtz offside for Liverpool’s equaliser? I know we have semi-automated technology for offside in the Premier League nowadays but every time see the goal I can’t help but think that he’s offside. I understand that the TV cameras can be misleading sometimes when it comes to the angle of an offside but I think it’s pretty clear that Wirtz’s knee was ahead of Diop’s leg but I suppose the grass lines maybe weren’t cut straight but I think the penalty spot clearly shows that Wirtz’s knee is ahead of the spot and Diop’s foot is behind the spot but I suppose we have to trust the technology that was brought in for these types of decisions but this did look dodgy to a lot of people watching this game.
First half performance cost Liverpool dearly. In my opinion Liverpool were lucky to be only 1-0 behind in the first half, some of the passing was so sloppy and Fulham deserved the opener through some brilliant play between Jimenez and Wilson who finished expertly past Alisson, having Jones and Szoboszlai almost play as attackers cost Liverpool creatively as Wirtz was the only player that could create something for Gakpo who was starved of chances until his goal, Wirtz was also having a poor game until his goal giving the ball away time after time and whilst Liverpool’s bench was starved of attacking threat I’m surprised Slot didn’t sub on Rio Ngumoha to give Liverpool some much needed width. The second half was much better from a Liverpool perspective and Slot will be fuming that his side didn’t come away with all 3 points.
Fulham are coping well with the AFCON absentees. It’s easy to overlook just how many players Fulham are missing at the minute, first-team players like Iwobi, Bassey and Chukwueze who all probably would have started this game but they seem to coping relatively well so far without them. Harry Wilson is having an excellent season so far is scoring so many important goals for Marco Silva’s side. Fulham now sit in 11th and are only 4 points off 5th place which is crazy considering the way they started the season. Huge credit has to go to Marco Silva for the way he has this Fulham side playing with such a small budget compared to the rest of the Premier League, I wonder how long he’ll stay at Fulham considering his tetchy relationship with the board after last summer.
Top 4 shootout for Liverpool. This result leaves Liverpool in 4th on 34 points and with Arsenal to play on Thursday they could see themselves level on points with Chelsea and Man United if results don’t go their way this week which is why this game was so important for Liverpool to get all 3 points in. It looks like Liverpool will be fighting for the Champions League spots this year along with 3 or 4 other teams which many didn’t see coming before the season started. Slot will hope Hugo Ekitike isn’t out for too long as Liverpool lose so much attacking threat without him on the pitch, you struggle to see how Liverpool will go to the Emirates on Thursday and get a result but you never know, I suppose we’ll see on Thursday evening.