Fulham Vs Liverpool: The Reds Must Win To Stay Competing In The Title Competition

Virgil van Dijk, must win to secure Liverpool's chances (photo: x @lfc)

JAKARTA - Liverpool returned to travel to Craven Cottage Stadium, Fulham's headquarters on Sunday 21 April. The Reds realized they should no longer lose points after a surprising 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace at home last week. The result made their rival, Man City, control the title race.

After leading the Premier League for 11 of the last 13 weeks, Liverpool have now dropped to third place, behind Man City and Arsenal. With only six games remaining this season, only three points are enough to keep their chances awake.

Liverpool were also knocked out of the Europa League by Atalanta in the middle of the week, and the Premier League was the only trophy they were still hunting.

Meanwhile, Fulham has established themselves as a stable team on the centerboard of the standings, and can compete with anyone. In the last five games, they have beaten the teams above them like West Ham and Tottenham. But they had lost to bottom teams like Nottingham Forest. They even had to make a comeback in the final minutes against Sheffield United who were ranked 20th to earn a point.

Liverpool must be careful with Rodrigo Muniz, who scored eight goals in eight games in February and March. Muniz has yet to score in three games and will try to get back on goal.

Liverpool should no longer make mistakes or titles will really be out of their reach. They should have more than enough quality to face inconsistent Fulham.

Moreover, Jurgen Klopp is believed to have full strength when Liverpool visit Fulham's headquarters in the Premier League on Sunday, April 21.

Klopp also fielded his best team on Thursday night trying to reverse their 3-0 defeat in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-final against Atalanta. Almost all Liverpool's mainstay players played in Bergamo, but Klopp's team were only able to score one goal - an early penalty from Mohamed Salah.

Their comeback mission failed and a surprise defeat on Sunday April 14th to Crystal Palace at home left them with little room to make mistakes in title hunting.

Despite Thiago Alcantara, Joel Matip, and Ben Doak being absent in the long term, Liverpool almost have all of their squad available.

Conor Bradley faces a short absence period, despite Trent Alexander-Arnold's return from injury, the Northern Irish international is unlikely to start.

Alexander-Arnold recently returned to the squad and Klopp confirmed he was still recovering for full fitness.

Stefan Bajcetic is back in action but is likely to still be evacuated into the first team, given the injury problem he is experiencing is quite serious.

Darwin Nunez could replace Cody Gakpo in front of Liverpool, while Wataru Endo might return to midfield.