That Liverpool will be deserved – but far from infallible – Premier League title winners has been obvious for some time. There is no need to panic just yet after defeat by the Thames. Collecting silverware while requiring further growth and repair can be taken as a positive sign.
Fulham, with the brilliant Alex Iwobi turning on the style, showed top-tier English football is full of quality, that laurels can never be rested on. Just about everyone has a maverick talent who on his day can take apart the best.
For Arne Slot, the first half – and much of the second – was a case study in what needs to improve and, such is the ruthlessness of successful dynasties, which champions-elect will need to be replaced.
Though this was not a pleasurable learning experience, Fulham – a physical side who mix skill with power, just like Newcastle at Wembley last month – made it hard for a team who have lately been grinding towards their grail.
Arsenal fans need not get too excited, particularly after drawing with Everton all but removed their last vestiges of hope. Next for Slot’s team, West Ham, who have won once at Anfield since 1963, and then hopeless patsies Leicester.
Slot’s most obvious alteration to Jürgen Klopp’s side has been to add a change of gear that has added durability, though his team now requires patching up. That proved crucial here, the weak point that Fulham repeatedly picked at. In the right-back position Trent Alexander‑Arnold will soon vacate, Curtis Jones again took one for the team, neither Jarell Quansah’s aptitude nor Conor Bradley’s match fitness trusted.
Some early signs of defensive wobbles proved portentous. Ibrahima Konaté’s dallying allowed Andreas Pereira to sneak the ball into a scoring position for Rodrigo Muniz. In rescuing his fellow centre-back, Virgil van Dijk took a hefty whack.
The Dutchman, whose own presence cannot be taken as read for next season, stayed in a sour mood for the rest of a 90 minutes in which he was no innocent party amid repeated collective defensive collapses, his feelings darkened by Muniz’s attempts to dish out more monstering.
Liverpool began the game scratchily to grab their lead from almost nowhere. Their fans, up in the corner of the Putney End, were already singing songs of celebration before Alexis Mac Allister opened the scoring. His goal was all his own work, robbing Iwobi and shaking off Sander Berge before unleashing a fine shot past Bernd Leno.
Fulham’s recent slump has followed the pattern of their Marco Silva Premier League years, high hopes dwindling into inconsistency, though they are capable of giving anyone a contest. One of their manager’s key skills is the restoration of previous talents fallen from prominence, Iwobi and Pereira as prime examples.
Another to add to the list: Ryan Sessegnon is Fulham’s lost boy returned, sold to Tottenham when the club could not afford to keep him, back in the fold after a harrowing spell of injuries and loss of confidence in north London. His goal, lashed in following Jones’s panicked clearance, was a moment of prodigal celebration.
The next defensive sinner was Andy Robertson, among those whose number may soon be up in any Liverpool rebuild, the left-back twice gifting Iwobi a shooting chance, the second not passed up. In a final act of desperation, he prevented Caoimhín Kelleher from seeing the shot arrowing into the goal.
During Fulham’s first-half flurry Iwobi, ably supported by Antonee Robinson, a mooted candidate for Robertson’s position, was toasting Jones in the London sunshine. Everything he did turned to gold. Even a Peter Kay-style hoof resulted in Muniz taking down the ball beautifully and bullying past Van Dijk to score an inexplicable – though not undeserved – third.
Mohamed Salah, meanwhile, had barely had a touch worthy of the name, a factor sustained throughout, the “Egyptian King” offering a glimpse of what Liverpool might look like without him while actually being present on the pitch. He has not scored in open play for seven matches. As the second half arrived. Luis Díaz replaced the ineffectual Cody Gakpo, and Harvey Elliott arrived to boos, as another prodigal who fled the Cottage.
Jones was eventually released from his right-back torture chamber, Bradley arriving as Ryan Gravenberch shifted to centre-back. The Darwin Núñez panic button was pressed, too, to little avail.
Bradley showed off his attacking qualities in speeding forward from Jones’s pass to set up Díaz to score and set up a frantic last 15 minutes. Díaz made a laughable, flopping attempt to claim a penalty, Elliott crashed a shot against the crossbar. Federico Chiesa, another substitute, was also unable to beat Leno from close range with two attempts.
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Mac Allister’s departure left midfield holes through which Fulham found added space to attack, and Harrison Reed forced a full‑length save from Kelleher. As Fulham retreated to throw bodies at the ball, Elliott had another effort saved but Liverpool’s frenzy, as disorganised as their previous defending, brought no reward. Leno claimed the ball one last time to end six minutes of added time and launch home celebrations. They had only delayed the very-probably inevitable but Craven Cottage will long remember this Super Sunday.
