Full Time
Liverpool were held to a goalless draw by Fulham at Anfield, with the visitors digging in for a battling point against the run of play. Liverpool had the better of the chances but couldn't turn possession into goals, while Jérémy Jacquet was excellent at the back for Fulham, helping keep the scoreline blank. Nothing dramatic happened at either end, but a clean sheet away from home was exactly what a struggling Fulham side needed. Liverpool remain unbeaten and handily placed in the upper half of the table, while Fulham are still hunting their first league win of the season and find themselves in the relegation zone.
Pre-match Talking Points
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1Liverpool are 7th and still hunting their first Premier League home win of the season - three draws on the spin at Anfield is their longest home winless run since the Covid years, so this one matters more than a home game against the bottom side should. Fulham arrive rock bottom, level on points with Coventry City, having taken nothing from their first three fixtures. For Fulham it's about stopping the rot before the pressure boils over; for Liverpool it's about finally turning home form into three points.
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2History is heavily on Liverpool's side here - they've lost just two of their last 33 home league meetings with Fulham, both 1-0 shocks back in May 2012 and March 2021. So Fulham do have a quiet habit of nicking a result at Anfield when nobody expects it, which is the only thing keeping this from looking like a foregone conclusion on paper.
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3Keep an eye on Mohamed Salah. He's the one player in this Liverpool side who's scored against basically everyone, repeatedly, for the best part of a decade, and with the home crowd growing restless after three straight draws, he's exactly the kind of player who needs one moment of magic to change the mood at Anfield.
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4Liverpool go into this without five first-team players - Conor Bradley, Giovanni Leoni, Hugo Ekitike, Joe Gomez and Federico Chiesa are all sidelined, and Cody Gakpo is a doubt after sitting out a midweek Champions League win with an abductor issue. That's a serious dent to squad depth in both defence and attack, so whoever fills in has a real chance to make a case for a regular spot.
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5Fulham's manager Alvaro Arbeloa is a former Liverpool defender walking back into Anfield with his own job under serious scrutiny - Fulham are winless and pointless after three games, and there's already talk of unrest in the dressing room. A defeat here won't just hurt the table position, it'll turn the heat right up on him, so keep half an eye on the away technical area as well as the pitch.
Team Talking Points
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1Liverpool won 3-1 at bottom side Crystal Palace on Sunday and climbed back into the top four. Alexis Mac Allister, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak scored. Coming after a sticky run, it was the result Andoni Iraola needed going into the break.
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2Wirtz's goal was his first in the league this season. For a player who cost a small fortune, that's been a running joke among rival fans. Liverpool supporters will insist his all-round play was always more important than goals, and they're partly right.
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3The international break hasn't been kind. Virgil van Dijk played the full 90 at Selhurst Park, then pulled out of the Netherlands squad, reportedly after playing through a minor problem for weeks. Dominik Szoboszlai picked up a knee sprain in the same game and is a doubt for Hungary. Neither is a disaster yet, but both are worth watching.
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4Alisson was named man of the match at Palace with several big saves, and he was unlucky to concede a stoppage-time penalty. That's a reminder that Liverpool's win was less comfortable than the scoreline suggests.
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5The fixtures coming up are huge. Manchester United visit Anfield on 22 November, and over the next few weeks a Merseyside derby against a high-flying Everton and a game against Chelsea follow. A month from now we'll know whether Iraola's Liverpool are genuine contenders or just good at beating teams at the bottom.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Wirtz finally scored in the league, so now everyone can stop asking. The real test is United, the derby and Chelsea in the next few weeks.
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Avoid saying
"Liverpool are nothing without Klopp" — he's been gone since 2024, they've won the league since, and it suggests your football knowledge stopped updating several seasons ago.
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1Fulham drew 1-1 with Newcastle at Craven Cottage on Saturday, and it took a late scramble. Jacob Murphy put Newcastle ahead with a stunner in the 80th minute, before substitute Rodrigo Muniz flicked in an equaliser three minutes later. It was his first Premier League goal in seven months, so the celebration had some feeling behind it.
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2Head coach Álvaro Arbeloa, the former Real Madrid and Liverpool defender, has Fulham on 10 points from 10 games. That's not thrilling, but they took eight of those points from the last four matches. They go into the break feeling a lot better than they did a month ago.
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3Odd but true: that was Fulham's first ever Premier League draw at home to Newcastle. It's the kind of trivia that makes you sound like you've got the stats app open under the table.
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4The reward for that improvement is a trip to Manchester City on 21 November when the league comes back. Expectations will be realistic. Mind you, City just lost 3-1 at Nottingham Forest, so a Fulham fan might be quietly hopeful.
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5Fulham are one of those clubs that never seem to be in the headlines, which suits them fine. The ground sits right on the Thames and has a 'neutral' section, a genuinely unusual thing in English football. Ask a Fulham fan about it and they'll be delighted someone noticed.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Eight points from the last four is decent going. Arbeloa's got Fulham ticking again, and Muniz scoring off the bench never hurts.
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Avoid saying
"Fulham? They're just a nice day out by the river" — it's meant kindly, but saying it out loud tells every Fulham fan you think their club's a tourist attraction rather than a football team.