EPL: Fulham v Liverpool – what stats say
Fulham were unbeaten across both Premier League games against Liverpool in 2020-21, drawing 1-1 at home and winning 1-0 at Anfield. Despite suffering relegation that season, the Cottagers’ four points against the Reds was their joint-most against an opponent (also four v Sheffield United and West Brom).
Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp lost his first Premier League meeting with Marco Silva in February 2017, with his side losing 0-2 away at Hull. Since then, Klopp is unbeaten in his last four against the Portuguese in the competition (W2 D2), with the most recent being a 5-2 win against Silva’s Everton.
On the five previous occasions Fulham have been newly promoted to the English top-flight, they have lost their first league match of the season, doing so in 1949-50, 1959-60, 2001-02, 2018-19 and 2020-21.
Liverpool have won their first Premier League match in each of the last four seasons, the longest ongoing run in the top-flight, scoring at least three goals in every victory (15 goals in total).
Fulham are winless in their last 10 Premier League games (D2 L8), with their last top-flight victory coming against Liverpool in March 2021.
Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 19 Premier League games (W16 D3) since a 1-0 loss at Leicester in December 2021. The Reds have won their last three despite conceding the opening goal within the opening 15 minutes each time – only Arsenal (March 2012) have ever won four consecutive Premier League games from behind.
In their last Premier League season in 2020-21, Fulham became the first side to fail to reach double figures for goals in home league games in English league history (9 in 19 games). They’ve failed to score more than once in any of their last 14 Premier League home games, netting just four goals in total in that run.
This will be Fulham boss Marco Silva’s first Premier League game in 976 days, since a 5-2 defeat with Everton against Liverpool in December 2019. There have been just three occasions of a manager having a longer gap between Premier League games with both of them coming against the same side – Kevin Keegan (2054 days between 1997 and 2002, v Leeds), Alan Pardew (1308 days between 2007 and 2010, v Liverpool) and Keegan again (1048 days between 2005 and 2008, v Bolton).
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Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic has scored 24 goals in 104 Premier League games, netting once on average every 286 minutes in the competition. This is a stark contrast to his Championship record, where the Serbian has scored 85 goals in 126 games, netting once on average every 117 minutes.
Mohamed Salah has scored in Liverpool’s opening Premier League game in each of his five seasons with the club, with the Egyptian the only player in the competition’s history to score on MD1 five years in a row.
Indeed, he has seven such goals in total, with only three players netting more (Alan Shearer, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney, eight each).