Fulham vs Liverpool: Preview & Prediction

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Match Preview:

Fulham are back in the Premier League and there will be an electric atmosphere at Craven Cottage come lunch time on Saturday. In a sense the club and the fans will be thrilled that their opening game will be against Liverpool though at the same time there is the clear and evident threat that the day could end badly for the returning side.

The Cottagers were relegated in 2020/21 season and after spending a season in the Championship they will feel that they are back to where they belong. So far the club have brought in six players in the transfer window. Joao Paulinha has come in from Sporting for a reported figure of £15m and his role will be to act as a defensive midfielder. Bernd Leno has come in from Arsenal in the goalkeeping role and Andreas Pereira who had a difficult spell at Manchester United will be looking to re-ignite his career with the club. However for the Cottagers all eyes will be on Aleksandar Mitrovic, the 27 year old forward scored an astounding 43 league goals in the Championship last season. Can he replicate that form in the Premier League? The jury is out on the Serbian given that in Fulham’s last season in the top flight he managed just 3 goals from 27 games but still it will be interesting to see what he can do this season.

The Cottagers played four pre-season games and were soundly beaten 5-1 away to Benfica. However it hasn’t all been doom and gloom and Marco Silva’s side did beat Nice 2-0 and drew 1-1 with Villarreal.

There will be a lot of expectation on Liverpool who have risen under Jurgen Klopp as a team to be feared and perhaps are the only club this season who can challenge Manchester City and try and stop them from winning 3 league titles in a row. In order to compete with Pep Guardiola’s side you have to keep bringing quality players in and even though three players have arrived so far this is about quality over quantity. Mohamed Salah will have stiff competition with the arrival of Darwin Nunez from Benfica for an initial £65m. Nunez scored 34 goals in all competitions for the Portuguese side last season from 41 games played and the Uruguayan is being tipped to be one of the best centre forwards in world football. As back up Fabio Carvalho was brought in from Fulham for just £5m. Calvin Ramsey has also been bought from Scottish side Aberdeen and the 19 year old defender is one for the future. 

Of course Liverpool have also had to balance the books and sell and the biggest loss will be Sadio Mane who has joined Bayern Munich. Divock Origi has left for Milan and Takumi Minamino joined Monaco for £13m. However Liverpool still has a devastating team and it should be business as normal for the Reds this coming season. Pre-season hasn’t been as strong as it could have been and no one will forget the clubs 4-0 drubbing against Manchester United. They have also lost their last 2 friendly games but there has also been many line up changes and the club did win their most important fixture beating Manchester City 3-1 in the Community Shield.

Team News: 

Fulham: Joe Bryan is set to miss out with a broken hand. Nathaniel Chalobah has a knock and could be assessed but early signs are that he will miss out. Harry Wilson is out long term with a knee injury

Liverpool: Diogo Jota is only 50/50 to return from a hamstring injury, Curtis Jones will be assessed for a muscle injury. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is set to miss at least a month with a hamstring injury

Fulham vs Liverpool Head to Head:

The last time the teams played each other was in 2021 at Anfield and Fulham won 1-0.

The last fixture here finished 1-1.

Liverpool have won 6 of the last 8 meetings.

3 of the last four meetings has ended in under 2.5 goals.

Fulham vs Liverpool Prediction:

If Liverpool are full pelt it is difficult to see them not winning and winning well at that. The quality going forward is off the charts and if Nunez is able to click and link up well with Salah this could be a long afternoon for the home side. However sometimes playing quality teams such as Liverpool on the first day of the season and at home can throw up unpredictable results and the Fulham players will be well prepared and incredibly motivated to get something from this game. 

History says a Liverpool win but what is interesting is that the majority of games over the past decade has only seen one goal in it and a fair few have ended with under 2.5 goals. Liverpool are around 1.25 to win this game and we should be looking for value. We do think this will be a comfortable win for Liverpool, so we will back them to be winning at half time and full time.

It is worth backing new boy Nunez to get on the score sheet, he’s looked really sharp in a Liverpool shirt and one would think he has been playing for the Reds for some time. He will want to make an impact and is a good price to get his scoring for the club under way in the Premier League.

Fulham vs Liverpool Betting Tips:

Half time/full time: Liverpool/Liverpool at 1.83

Anytime goalscorer: Darwin Nunez at 2.00