After Andy Robertson received a red card at Anfield, Fulham equalized twice against Premier League leader Liverpool, who were down to 10 men, with Diogo Jota’s goal in the last minutes. Liverpool and Fulham competed for 3 points
Jota, who has been away from the field due to his injury since October, scored the equalizing goal in the 86th minute in the match, where Rodrigo Muniz ended his resistance in the second half.
Shortly before the end of the first half, Cody Gakpo’s header after Mohamed Salah’s magnificent cross canceled out Andreas Pereira’s goal in the 11th minute.
Liverpool’s task became even more difficult when, six minutes after Pereira had volleyed Fulham ahead, Robertson was sent off for denying Harry Wilson a goal-scoring opportunity.
While Fulham’s defender Issa Diop was saved from a yellow card after Robertson’s harsh tackle in an offside position, the same was not true for Liverpool’s left-back and after a long video assistant referee (VAR) review, it was confirmed that Wilson was offside, but he evaluated his mistake .
After Wilson sent a free kick into Alisson’s goal, Liverpool held on to the ball again and continued to cause problems for Fulham. However, Luis Diaz headed the hosts’ best opportunity away before the end of the first half.
However, Liverpool regained their energy in the second half and mobilized the Anfield fans with Gakpo’s goal after the restart.
Fulham’s failure to capitalize on their numerical superiority increased Liverpool’s confidence, and Salah twice came close to completing the goal, but found the goal after Muniz’s hard punch.
A chaotic and breathtaking result emerged with Jota’s goal crowning his comeback in the last minutes of the breathtaking match, and both teams had to settle for one point each.
Liverpool’s title rival, after a thrilling 3-3 draw with Newcastle 10 days ago, widened the gap further after last weekend’s Merseyside derby against Everton was postponed due to bad weather.
10-man Liverpool struggled to win points
One goal, one red card, four yellow cards – and that was just the first half hour of a wild afternoon at Anfield.
Diop was relieved to see the offside flag raised after his tackle on Robertson in the Fulham penalty area, and it was a great chance that he only received a yellow card. But Pereira’s strike stunned Anfield.
The Brazilian’s beautiful shot hit Robertson’s thigh and bounced off Alisson’s grasp. The Scot’s luck took a turn for the worse when VAR did not give him a chance after dropping Wilson with 17 minutes left in the game.
Liverpool, which deployed Ryan Gravenberch as a temporary centre-back, fulfilled its duty despite Fulham posing a constant threat in counter-attacks and completed the first half with 61% possession of the ball.
Coach Arne Slot rewarded his team’s aggressive start in the second half with Salah’s quality pass to the back post.
But even this moment proved to be a dramatic one, with VAR reviewing and confirming Luis Diaz’s potential foul on Kenny Tete before Gakpo completed the goal.
Liverpool hardly looked like they were outnumbered as they chased victory, but they faced a tough task once again as Muniz guided an excellent Robinson back pass.
The teams exchanged blows until the final whistle at the end of the 100 minutes, but Jota enabled Chelsea to maintain their advantage at the top with the goal he scored in the last minutes of the match, and with Chelsea responding, the end of the match became clear.
Fulham, on the other hand, will be disappointed not to have a first Anfield win since March 2021, but their solid start to the season continues, which is the club’s second-best start in Premier League history.
