Fulham faced Liverpool in the opening fixture of the Premier League today at Craven Cottage
and managed to hold the mighty Reds to an unexpected draw.

Fulham returned to the Premier League after 2 long years on the back of winning the
Championship last season. Liverpool were on a high winning the Community Shield last
weekend against Manchester City.

Jurgen Klopp’s side were in their usual 4-3-3 formation with Allison back in goal after his
recovery. Both the new signings, Darwin Nunez and Fabio Carvalho featured on the bench. The
Cottagers lined up in 4-2-3-1 as Joao Palhinha made his Premier League debut with Aleksandar Mitrovic up front.

The match started with a high tempo displaying Fulham’s excitement to be back in the top flight. Their intensity was rewarded in the 32nd minute as Mitrovic headed in Kenny Tete’s cross from the right wing. Liverpool looked on the backfoot right from the word go and went into halftime with a goal deficit.

The Reds were inches away from conceding again when Neeskens Kebano’s shot hit the
woodwork. Klopp introduced Nunez and Elliott early in the second half and the attacks started to come by more frequently. The Uruguayan international latched onto Salah’s cross and flicked it into the back of the net to mark his first league goal.

Right when it looked like Liverpool were clawing their way back into the game, Van Dijk
conceded a penalty and Mitrovic converted it with ease and restored their lead. Marco Silva’s
team looked like they were burnt out having played most of the match with high intensity. Salah equalized in the 80th minute slotting the ball in with Fulham’s defence in shambles unable to deal a high ball into the box. Henderson rattled the crossbar late in injury time but could not find the winner.

Fulham will be mighty pleased with their effort against one of the title contenders this season
and will be building upon this performance. Liverpool on the other hand would want to be clinical and finish matches on a winning note if they need to challenge for the league title.

Image credit : FulhamFC