Fulham will mark their return to the Premier League for the third time in five seasons with a visit from Liverpool this Sunday.
Venue: Craven Cottage (London)
Key Statistics
Fulham have lost their opening league match the last five times they’ve returned to the top flight.
Aleksandar Mitrović has never lost a PL match when scoring at home (W8, D3).
The hosts have scored an average of 2.60 goals and 1.00 conceded in the previous ten home matches.
Liverpool have kept 11 clean sheets in their past 19 PL matches.
The visitors have scored 2+ goals in 15 of their past 19 PL matches.
They have not lost any of their last 19 PL matches
Head to head
In 30 PL meetings between both sides, Liverpool have won 18 times while Fulham have seven wins and five draws.
Latest performances in all competitions (including friendlies)
Fulham: D-W-L-W-L
Liverpool: L-W-L-W-W
Fulham
Fulham will look to mark their return to the Premier League with a win when they welcome Liverpool to Craven Cottage this Saturday afternoon.
The Cottagers went down to the Championship two seasons ago under Scott Parker but were able to move back to the top flight after one season, thanks to the breath-taking football they played last year under Marco Silva.
The Portuguese guided the hosts to win the Championship title last season, with his side winning 27 of their 46 games while scoring a remarkable 106 goals and conceding 43. He will now hope that they can repeat their impressive performance in the Championship last season in the PL this year.
They have already begun putting the tools in place for a successful season by adding the highly rated João Palhinha and Manchester United old-boy Andreas Pereira to their ranks. Their additions should help fill the void left by Fábio Carvalho, who departed to none other than opponents Liverpool.
Possible Fulham starting line-up
Marek Rodak; Kenny Tete, Tosin Adarabioyo, Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson; Harrison Reed, Joao Palhinha; Bobby Reid, Andrea Pereira, Manor Solomon; Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Injured: Joe Bryan, Harry Wilson
Doubtful: Nathaniel Chalobah
Suspended: None
Liverpool
Liverpool will travel to Fulham looking to begin the season on a winning note after the disappointing end to the previous season.
The Reds were very close to winning the Premier League title last season but were pipped to the title by City who secured the trophy by just one point. They still ended the season with two trophies; the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup, while they have already won a title this summer when they beat Manchester City 3-1 in the FA Community Shield last Saturday.
They will hope to make it two wins in two consecutive competitive games and will be confident of doing so given their record against newly promoted sides on the first day of the season. This is the fourth season in a row that The Reds are playing newly promoted opposition to open their campaign, winning the last three by a combined score of 11-4.
Again, their Premier League form heading into this tie will also be a confidence-booster as they are unbeaten in their last 19 PL games, winning 16 of those games and drawing three.
Possible Liverpool starting line-up
Alisson Becker; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson; Thiago Alcantara, Fabinho, Jordan Henderson; Luis Diaz, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino.
Injured: Naby Keita, Calvin Ramsey, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Diogo Jota, Caoimhin Kelleher
Doubtful: Curtis Jones, Ibrahima Konate
Suspended: None
Prediction
Fulham 0-3 Liverpool
