Liverpool welcome Fulham to Anfield on Saturday, the second of three consecutive home matches for the Reds this season.
Liverpool head into the weekend having followed up a 2-0 victory over Ipswich with a comeback Champions League win against Atletico Madrid.
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Andoni Iraola start to life at the club has not been entirely smooth, with consecutive draws against Newcastle and Nottingham Forest before that first league win arrived against Ipswich.
Liverpool have taken five points from their opening three Premier League fixtures, winning one and drawing two.
Fulham arrive at Anfield as one of just two Premier League teams yet to pick up a point this season, having lost their opening three matches.
It will be Fulham boss Alvaro Arbeloa’s first Premier League game against Liverpool, the club for whom he played 66 times in the competition.
The Spaniard spent three seasons at Anfield between 2006 and 2009 and was part of the side that finished as Champions League runners-up to AC Milan in 2007.
There is a specific number attached to Saturday’s game that has quietly followed Liverpool through their opening weeks of the season.
If Liverpool score exactly twice against Fulham, it will be the first time in the club’s history that they have done so in each of the opening four league fixtures of a campaign.
The pattern is already in place. Liverpool scored twice in their 2-2 draw with Newcastle, twice again in the 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest, and twice more in the 2-0 win at Ipswich.
A repeat scoreline against Fulham would complete the record.
Liverpool go into the game without the injured Conor Bradley, Hugo Ekitike, Giovanni Leoni and Federico Chiesa, with Joe Gomez also a doubt after a knock.
Fulham travel without the injured Tom Cairney, with Luc De Fougerolles also doubtful.
Alexander Isak has scored three goals for Liverpool this season. He will be aiming to score in a third successive league match for the first time since January 2025, when he did so in a run of eight.
Rio Ngumoha scored his first goal at Anfield in the corresponding fixture against Fulham last season, in April.
Liverpool’s record against Saturday’s opponents at Anfield is strong.
The Reds have lost only two of their previous 33 home league games against Fulham, winning 23 and drawing eight, with the only defeats coming in May 2012 and March 2021.
Managers who previously played in the Premier League for Liverpool have lost all five of their meetings against the club: Paul Ince with Blackburn Rovers in December 2008, Mauricio Pellegrino twice with Southampton in 2017-18, and Steven Gerrard twice with Aston Villa in 2021-22.
Arbeloa now attempts to break that trend.
Fulham’s away form offers little encouragement before the trip to Merseyside.
They have won just one of their 11 away Premier League matches in 2026, drawing four and losing six, with that solitary victory coming at Sunderland in February.
Fulham have lost their opening four fixtures of a campaign only twice in their history, in 1951-52 and 2020-21.
Fulham’s only win of the season so far came in the Carabao Cup, a 3-0 victory over AFC Wimbledon.
Saturday’s fixture gives Arbeloa’s side a chance to open their Premier League account, while Liverpool aim to make a small piece of club history of their own.
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