• ESPN

Jan 2, 2026, 02:56 PM

Liverpool will look to get back to winning ways when they travel to London to face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday afternoon.

Arne Slot’s team have picked up ten points from their previous four Premier League games — and are unbeaten in the league since losing to Nottingham Forest in November. Since then, Liverpool have played seven league games, winning four and drawing three. It’s a decent run of results that has taken them up to fourth in the Premier League standings, but 2026 began on a disappointing note, with an insipid performance in a goalless home draw against Leeds United on Thursday evening.

Fulham’s recent form is also very similar to Liverpool’s. They have won three and drawn one of their last four Premier League games. In that period, they’ve scored six goals and conceded three, the same as Liverpool.

Here is everything you need to know ahead of Saturday’s game.

How to watch:

The match will be will be shown on Sky Sports Main Event in the UK, NBC Sports in the U.S., JioHotstar in India and Stan Sport in Australia. You can also follow ESPN’s live updates.

Key Details:

Kick-off time: Sunday, Jan. 4 at 3:30 p.m. GMT (10:00 a.m. ET; 8:30 p.m. IST and 2:30 a.m. AEST, Monday)
Venue: Craven Cottage, London
Referee: Craig Pawson
VAR: Andy Madley

Injury and Team News:

Fulham

Calvin Bassey, D: AFCON, OUT
Alex Iwobi, M: AFCON, OUT
Samuel Chukwueze, F: AFCON, OUT
Kenny Tete, D: knock, DOUBT
Ryan Sessegnon, D: hamstring, OUT, est. return mid-Jan
Rodrigo Muniz, F: hamstring, OUT, est. return early-Feb

Liverpool:

Mohamed Salah, F: AFCON, OUT
Alexander Isak, F: ankle, OUT, est. return unknown
Wataru Endo, M: knock, OUT, est. return early Jan.
Joe Gomez, D: hamstring, OUT, est. return early Jan.

Talking Points:

Liverpool’s lack of identity

What kind of team are this Liverpool? What are the trade-offs being made for them to look so insipid going forward? They certainly have conceded fewer chances from open play in the last month, but that has come at the cost of so much attacking thrust. Liverpool’s attacking health is so dependent on individual brilliance and talent, that it’s not sustainable. There are no patterns, no relentless pressure, no real cohesion in their attack.

“We are the team that has the most ball possession, but that means not a lot if you cannot create enough chances, and to create chances against a low block you need pace, individual special moments to create an overload,” Slot said after their draw against Leeds.

That ball possession means nothing when it’s concentrated between the two centre-backs and the defensive midfielder. Liverpool lack penetrative progression that gets the ball to the likes of Florian Wirtz in dangerous areas quick enough. Their recent run of wins were all also dependent on the likes of Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike producing moments of quality, rather than a result of a sustained method.

Now that they’ve stopped giving up a glut of chances in open play, Slot must figure how to make his team a consistent attacking threat without losing that solidity they’ve built.

Fulham’s form is good, can they kick on?

Fulham have picked up 10 points in the last four league games, just like Liverpool. However, their attacking output has dipped. They have scored only three goals in three games without Iwobi and Chukwueze. However, they’ve conceded only one goal in those games.

It must be mentioned that the two wins came against West Ham and Nottingham Forest, who are both near the foot of the table, and are both among the lowest goal-scorers in the league this season. However, Jorge Cuenca has settled in nicely alongside Joachim Andersen at the heart of the Fulham defence, and Antonee Robinson, with more minutes, is becoming sharper and looking closer to the player who was so good for them last season.

A positive result against the defending champions would be a real statement of intent as they look to climb into the top half of the table. They will certainly fancy themselves defensively against Liverpool’s blunt attack right now, but can they create enough chances to hurt Liverpool?

Liverpool have a problem in wide areas

Over the last decade, one thing Liverpool have never lacked is pace in wide areas — wingers with the ability to take on a full-back one-on-one and beat them. Against low blocks with a side dominating possession, that was an enduring aspects of Liverpool sides under Jurgen Klopp and even under Slot last season. They broke games in wide areas — either with the likes of Sadio Mane, Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah, or their erstwhile full-back pairing of Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

This season, Liverpool have a problem with both personnel and set-up in wide areas. Cody Gakpo has been underwhelming, Salah hasn’t had the best season, and the likes of Federico Chiesa and Rio Ngumoha haven’t played nearly enough. The only time Liverpool seem to have penetration from wide areas is when Wirtz starts wide on the left.

However, the set-up has restricted them as well. Liverpool set up with their wingers holding width, while the full-backs make underlapping runs. For the likes of Salah, Wirtz, and Gakpo, that is so restrictive, because all of them do their best work closer to the goal. Taking them further away, while giving those positions to the likes of Conor Bradley and Milos Kerkez has been extremely counter-productive.

There is perhaps a case to make that Liverpool’s set-up should go back to the simple things they did right under Klopp. The full-backs hold width and play high up the field — their wingers drift inside to link with Ekitike, and most importantly, they need to start doing things with speed.

Can Fulham deal with AFCON absentees?

Calvin Bassey, Alex Iwobi, and Samuel Chukwueze are all with Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations, and that has restricted the number of options that Marco Silva has had over the festive period. It’s not really had a big bearing on results, as they have picked up seven points from three games in that time.

However, against a team like Liverpool, Fulham will certainly miss the quality that those players bring. Direct, pacy wingers have really troubled Liverpool so far this season, so they will miss that from Chukwueze. Bassey’s power from set-pieces will also be dearly missed against a Liverpool side so fragile in defending those situations.

Iwobi’s running in midfield is also difficult to replace, with Liverpool lacking a natural defensive player in that position to track hard-running midfield players. The likes of Jorge Cuenca, Emile Smith Rowe and Kevin can perform similiar roles to the ones that the three Nigerian players do for Fulham, so they will have to step up against the defending champions.

Does Ekitike have an intensity problem?

Hugo Ekitike has definitely been one of the bright sparks of this Liverpool season. He’s scored 11 goals in all competitions and has eight in the Premier League. However, the numbers point to a need to improve one particular aspect. Ekitike regularly fades away towards the end of games. In the league, he’s scored five times in the first 20 minutes of the second half, and three times in the first halves of games. He has not scored a single goal in the last 25 minutes (plus added time) of any game that he’s started so far this season.

Especially with Liverpool not having Alexander Isak and Salah available for these last few weeks, Ekitike has had to shoulder a lot more of the attacking burden, and that automatically must have led to some fatigue, which is understandable.

However, whether the issue is sustaining intensity for the full duration of a game or something else, is what Liverpool must find out. They cannot afford the highly visible drop-off in performance levels from their main striker as they look to close out games.