Arne Slot’s men bounced back from their recent struggles with a victory at Anfield on Saturday. Look back with the best facts and Opta data in our Liverpool vs Fulham stats page.
Rio Ngumoha and Mohamed Salah were immensely popular goalscorers as Liverpool cruised to a much-needed morale-boosting 2-0 win over Fulham at Anfield in the Premier League on Saturday.
The Reds were undoubtedly still hurting from Wednesday’s Champions League loss to Paris Saint-Germain but looked bright and positive upon their return to domestic action, having not played in the league since 21 March.
This was also their first game at Anfield since Salah announced his end-of-season exit, and he fittingly marked the occasion with a fine goal to make it 2-0 just before half-time.
That came shortly after Ngumoha broke the deadlock in style, with there almost something symbolic about the talented teenager and the Egyptian legend netting on this occasion, Salah’s first Anfield outing since beginning his long farewell.
It wasn’t entirely convincing in the end, however, with Fulham doing enough to worry their hosts in the second half.
Liverpool vs Fulham xG map
Outclassed in Paris in midweek, Liverpool looked every inch a side desperate to produce a response in the early stages on Saturday.
Five shots in the opening 20 minutes was their joint-most purposeful start of the season in that respect as they put Fulham under pressure from the off.
Among those opportunities was a right-footed Salah effort that was goal bound but pushed away well by Bernd Leno, while Cody Gakpo drilled agonisingly wide.
Fulham managed to weather that early storm, but then a moment of magic saw them pegged back in the 36th minute.
Ngumoha drove into the left side of the box, left Timothy Castagne in knots and then curled a gorgeous effort into the bottom-far corner.
At 17 years and 225 days old, that made him Liverpool’s youngest Premier League goalscorer at Anfield, breaking a record set by Raheem Sterling (17y, 317d) in October 2012.
Ngumoha was then involved again four minutes later as Liverpool doubled their advantage.
The youngster found Gakpo in the centre of the box, and he teed up Salah for a first-time finish into the bottom-left corner, the Egyptian reaching 250 non-penalty Premier League goal involvements and leaving Fulham shellshocked.
Mohamed Salah non-penalty goal involvements
Fulham boss Marco Silva made changes at the break, but it wasn’t until just past the hour that they went close to pulling one back, as Rodrigo Muniz nearly bundled over the line at a corner.
The visitors’ gradual improvement contributed to a little anxiety building inside Anfield, and Emile Smith Rowe went agonisingly close in the 78th minute as he guided a low cross just wide.
Raúl Jiménez also worried Liverpool as he lashed just past the right-hand post in the 87th minute, with Fulham’s 19 shots being the most by an away team in a league game at Anfield on record (since 2003-04).
Liverpool survived any scares, however, holding on to the three points that sees them increase their lead over sixth-placed Chelsea in the battle for Champions League qualification, with Liam Rosenior’s men facing the unenviable task of facing Manchester City on Sunday.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Liverpool vs Fulham stats from their Premier League meeting at Anfield on Saturday.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Liverpool vs Fulham Post-Match Facts
Florian Wirtz’s three chances created today, including the assist for Rio Ngumoha’s opener for Liverpool, took his tally to open plays chances created in the Premier League this season to 50, becoming the second player to reach that tally after Bruno Fernandes (73).
Only Alan Shearer (204), Andrew Cole (186), Wayne Rooney (185), and Harry Kane (180) have scored more non-penalty goals in the Premier League than Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (157), going level with Sergio Agüero.
Mohamed Salah’s goal for Liverpool saw him reach 250 non-penalty goals and assists in the Premier League (157 goals, 93 assists), becoming the fifth player to do so after Wayne Rooney (288), Ryan Giggs (269), Alan Shearer (268) and Andrew Cole (259).
Only Arsenal (19) and Manchester City (17) have won more Premier League games this season when scoring first than Liverpool (W14 D3 L1).
Liverpool ended a three-game run without a win in the Premier League (D1 L2), while it’s their first home win with a clean sheet in the competition since December (2-0 v Brighton and Hove Albion).
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