Fulham have been one of the Premier League’s surprise packages this season, sitting pretty in 10th place and pushing many good teams hard. We spoke to Fulham fan Kyle Bonn (@the_bonnfire) to assess the team’s success and their upcoming match against Liverpool.
The secret to Fulham’s success has been twofold: goalkeeping and finishing. Bernd Leno has been statistically the best goalkeeper in the league this season alongside Alisson, and Aleksandar Mitrovic is the key to the team’s attack. Marco Silva has done an admirable job in extracting every bit of talent from less talented players, with Tim Ream, Andreas Pereira, Harrison Reed and Joao Palhinha all performing above expectations.
Harry Wilson has been a good squad player for Fulham, but his knee injury earlier in the year kept him from being his true self.
As for Liverpool, Kyle believes they need a complete revitalisation. The midfield is a sieve and Virgil van Dijk needs a new defensive partner. Thiago is a brilliant player but cannot be relied on with his injury history, and more midfielders are required.
The attacking unit is one of the best in the league, but more consistency is needed there as Jurgen Klopp continues to rotate his players heavily.
If Liverpool can transform the midfield and find a new partner for Van Dijk this summer, they can be a force again.
The key battle in Wednesday’s match will be in midfield, with Reed and Palhinha needing to keep the pressure on Liverpool. Unfortunately, Fulham are limping to the finish line with key players missing from their squad, so a 4-2 win in favour of Liverpool is a fair prediction.