Alexander-Arnold Strikes as Jota’s Return Fires Liverpool to Victory, Keeping Pace with Arsenal
Ever since Jurgen Klopp announced that this would be his last season as the Liverpool manager, something changed at Anfield. The Reds starting performing more, doing more and basically trying everything to send the German off with a trophy of some kind. Many believed that a quadruple was on the cards after the 1-0 win in the Carabao Cup final over Chelsea.
Klopp’s Tactical Shift Pays Off Against Fulham
Then Manchester United pulled off a shock win in the FA Cup and it broke several Liverpool hearts even if the treble was still on. However, over the course of the last week, Reds’ hearts went from heartbroken to sliced open and stomped on as United, yet again, forced them into a draw. Then Atalanta thoroughly thrashed Klopp’s side at Anfield and hope was fading.
As if that wasn’t enough, Crystal Palace beat them and then La Dea held on for a historic win (3-1 on aggregate) as the Reds crashed out of the Europa League. It meant that going into the clash against Fulham, Liverpool may have been on level pegging with the Cottagers even if they sat 12th on the table. To make things even worse, the Reds had scored just thrice in their last four when they should have netted at least 6 times.
Scripts don’t get written much better than this but Jurgen Klopp made a statement as he made five changes to his team, benching Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, and co. It meant that Diego Jota, Cody Gakpo, and even Ryan Gravenberch had a chance to impress, and they all did just that. Luis Diaz, playing off the right, did more so than most in that first half, causing all sorts of problems.
He did lack the end product, as he often has, which gave Fulham hope as a combination of Alex Iwobi and Andreas Pereira caused Liverpool their own problems. Still, the Reds somehow escaped and dominated possession even if chances were at a premium. That was even with Trent Alexander-Arnold on the field although the full-back eventually made João Palhinha pay for conceding a free-kick.
The Brazilian usually thrives in these games, being at his combative best but struggled to grab a hold of the game, conceding two free-kicks in quick succession. While Harvey Elliot’s set piece from the right hit nothing but the wall, Alexander-Arnold’s set-piece from the left, hit nothing but the net. It showed exactly what the full-back could do even if his side let him down before the half-time whistle.
The game, in all honesty, should have been put away before the break as Cody Gakpo, Jota, and Diaz all attempted to create chances with Gakpo coming the closest. It allowed Fulham back into the clash and they took full advantage with Rodrigo Muniz finding his footing. The in-form forward had a couple of pops at goal; his first one saved while his second one fell for Timothy Castagne.
The Belgian made no mistake and thumped home his first goal for Fulham just before the whistle as Klopp sprinted into the dressing room for yet another team-talk. It felt like yet another lost chance for the Reds even with a second-half to play although somehow things changed. They walked out a revitalized side, as Ryan Gravenberch repaid the faith with a gorgeous curling effort.
The Dutchman had tried to find spaces all evening but it wasn’t quite turning out to be his day until his effort crashed off the post and into the net beyond Leno. That seemed to unnerve Fulham as Calvin Bassey, Tosin Adarabioyo and co lost all composure with Bassey nearly sending a shot into his own net. Gakpo and Jota grew into the second half causing quite a few problems for Leno with a third goal all but inevitable.
It eventually arrived after some excellent work from Gravenberch and Gakpo, with the latter sliding it through for Jota to poke beyond Leon. The German could have done better but the Reds didn’t care as they had their third goal and it sealed all three points. That sent them over Manchester City into second place, level with Arsenal and behind only on goal-difference ahead of the Merseyside Derby.
Not a bad place to be in after the week they’ve had.
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