Who saw this coming? The 27,000 at Craven Cottage certainly didn’t, such was the state of utter stupefaction in the stands on a spring afternoon to remember in south-west London. Fulham were both dazzling and dogged and, indisputably, deserved winners. For Premier League champions-in-waiting Liverpool, though, it was simply a day to forget. One to write off. By extension for their defence, the opening period saw an utter implosion from all corners.
But here’s the thing: it should not matter. Liverpool’s terrific league season so far has given them a huge margin for error. Their 11-point buffer to Arsenal in second with seven matches to go is still a near-insurmountable advantage and it’s extremely feasible that they could still win their second league title in 35 years by the end of the month. But their pride took a hell of a kicking here on the shores of the Thames.
Their 26-game unbeaten run in the Premier League? Gone. Slot’s undefeated away league record since taking charge? Wiped out. Ultimately, in a defence still without the injured and seemingly Real Madrid-bound Trent Alexander-Arnold, it might have given Slot a lesson, a reminder, of where reinforcements are needed in the summer window. For Andy Robertson, it may well be an error-strewn display versus a team he was sent off against in December, which forces the Reds to act in the transfer market.
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But to overanalyse Liverpool’s leggy display would do an inspired Fulham a disservice. Marco Silva has got the Cottagers chasing European football, with his players flourishing in an easy-on-the-eye fluid system of play, under the lights of their scintillating new Riverside stand. Ryan Sessegnon, Alex Iwobi and a flash of sheer brilliance from Rodrigo Muniz won this game in a barely believable 15-minute first-half spell, rendering Alexis Mac Allister’s stunning opener a distant memory.
The whole back-line for the visitors – Curtis Jones, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil Van Dijk and Robertson – endured individual clangers. Arms were outstretched. Heads were bowed. The hero of the day, however? Fulham centre-back Calvin Bassey was outstanding, with his barnstorming forward runs and ability to sniff out any threat in behind. Notably, he won every one-on-one battle against a toothless Mohamed Salah. A man-of-the-match display, from a cult hero in these parts.
As unexpected as the goal-laden first half was, recent history told us otherwise. These two split 11 goals across both matches last season, and there were four goals in December, in an entertaining 2-2 draw at Anfield. By half-time, they’d matched that tally. The only shock was that it was Fulham with three of them.
Liverpool’s man of composure in the middle Mac Allister, perhaps surprisingly in the starting XI after that horror tackle from James Tarkowski in the midweek derby, opened the scoring early on: a rasping right-footed strike beyond Bernd Leno, and it all looked sunshine and roses for the travelling Liverpool fans. “We’re going to win the league,” they abruptly sang. They wouldn’t be singing it again.
Sessegnon, Fulham’s home-grown winger, equalised nine minutes later, capitalising on Curtis Jones’ skewed clearance by beating the laboured Van Dijk to the punch and connecting exquisitely on the run with his left foot. It was past Caoimhin Kelleher in an instant.
Ten minutes later, Fulham would take the lead through Robertson’s moment of calamity. The Scottish left-back misfired a horrid crossfield pass at the back, gifting the ball to Iwobi, and then compounded the error as he attempted to come across and block the shot. A deflection, a goal and the league leaders looked in a state of utter bemusement.
And nothing epitomised Liverpool’s limp first-half more than their captain Van Dijk, arms outstretched in bewilderment at every turn, and explicitly so when Muniz’s moment of genius gave the hosts a two-goal half-time lead. The Fulham striker exquisitely took the ball from out of the sky with a first-touch turn, bamboozling and outmuscling the Dutch defender, before squeezing the ball below Kelleher. Van Dijk remonstrated with referee Chris Kavanagh to no avail. In a flash, Liverpool were two down.
For a team that had lost one Premier League game all season, this was Liverpool’s worst half of league football under Arne Slot.
The Dutchman did not hang about after the interval, bringing on Harvey Elliott and Luis Diaz minutes into the second half, and the Colombian in particular provided fresh vigour on the left-hand side. He set up Salah, goal at his mercy, only for the out-of-form Premier League top scorer to balloon his finish over the bar. The Egyptian is now goalless in four games, his worst run in two years.
Diaz would halve the deficit himself with 20 minutes to go – a poked finish into the corner after a cool set-up by fellow substitute Conor Bradley – and Elliott rattled the crossbar against his former team late in the day. Even the barely-used attacker Federico Chiesa had a stoppage-time strike on goal, well-saved by Leno.
Yet a sterile Liverpool display did not have the match-saving finale. It was Fulham’s day, as they come to within two points of seventh place and a Europa Conference League spot. Yet for the Premier League leaders, the only solace is that this blip won’t cost them in the run-in. But it will hurt them.
