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Date – 14th December 2024
Venue – Anfield
Kick-off – 15.00 GMT
After a trip to Spain and a solid 0-1 midweek win over Girona in the Champions League on Tuesday, the Reds now host West London outfit Fulham, with a desire to take all three points and maintain their healthy lead at the pinnacle of the Premier League standings. The Cottager’s manager, Marco Silva, continues to impress in his role as manager and will be looking for another good performance, after taking two points off Arsenal last weekend.
🆕 #LIVFUL: #RivalRecon
🎙️ @Hari_Sethi is joined by @the_bonnfire to preview the upcoming #PremierLeague game!
🎧 Listen Now: https://t.co/a8CMrMoyVC pic.twitter.com/WWSswjEyxM
— AnfieldIndex (@AnfieldIndex) December 13, 2024
Fulham Availability
Reiss Nelson, Harrison Reed, Calvin Bassey, and Joachim Andersen, are all unavailable for the visitors due to injury, whereas Tom Cairney is serving a one-game suspension. Their recent form includes a 1-1 draw at home the Mikel Arteta’s Gunners, a superb 3-1 win over Brighton at Craven Cottage, as well as a 1-1 away to Tottenham. Following fifteen games played, Fulham sit 10th in the English top tier, with an impressive 23 points taken.
A predicted lineup for the away team is listed below, in a 4-2-3-1 formation. With Calvin Bassey seemingly unavailable, it could see Sander Berge dropped into the backline, thereby allowing the combative Andreas Pereira to be recalled. The rest of the side should remain which started against Arsenal, with Rodrigo Muniz and Harry Wilson being the only other starting alternatives of note.
GK – Bernd Leno
RB – Kenny Tete
RCB – Issa Diop
LCB – Sander Berge
LB – Antonee Robinson
CM – Saša Lukić
ACM – Emile Smith Rowe
CM – Andreas Pereira
RW – Alex Iwobi
CF – Raúl Jiménez
LW – Adama Traoré
Liverpool Availability
Federico Chiesa is now in first-team training, however, he will likely feature against Southampton in next week’s EFL Cup. Conor Bradley, Ibrahima Konaté and Kostas Tsimikas are unavailable for Arne Slot for the next batch of games. Diogo Jota may well make the bench for this game, whereas Alexis Mac Allister is serving a one-game suspension.
In terms of recent form, before the 3-3 draw with Newcastle at St James Park, Liverpool convincingly defeated Manchester City 2-0 at Anfield, following a 2-0 victory against fellow Champions League contenders Real Madrid, also at Anfield. This success came after a hard-fought 3-2 win at Southampton. After fourteen games played, Liverpool sits at the top of the Premier League with an impressive total of 35 points.
Below is the team I believe the Dutch boss, Arne Slot, will start for this vital encounter. The only question appears to be whether to persevere with his Uruguayan striker, Darwin Núñez or move his other South American attacker, Luis Díaz, into the centre-forward position.
GK – Alisson Becker
RB – Trent Alexander Arnold
RCB – Joe Gomez
LCB – Virgil van Dijk (c)
LB – Andy Robertson
CM – Curtis Jones
ACM – Dominik Szoboszlai
CM – Ryan Gravenberch
RF – Mohamed Salah
CF – Darwin Núñez
LF – Cody Gakpo
Liverpool vs Fulham: #AEyeScouted@guydrinkel & @karlmatchett look at the next game!
Listen Now: https://t.co/a8CMrMoyVC pic.twitter.com/0G7ZTxsDOB
— AnfieldIndex (@AnfieldIndex) December 12, 2024
How Will This Contest Play Out
Liverpool aims to maintain momentum and overcome a spirited and competitive opposition. With home advantage and a winning mentality installed within the league leaders, I suspect a hard-fought win will befall the Reds, however, they will be made to work for it. Emile Smith Rowe will undoubtedly be the key man for Fulham, as his creative approach will be vital to away success his team achieves.
Player to Watch – Dominik Szoboszlai
Steven Smith’s Score Prediction:
Liverpool 2 – 1 Fulham
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