Can Fulham stop the rot in the Premier League this weekend?
It is hard to say whether the visit of Wolves comes at a good or a bad moment for Fulham.
A run of four straight defeats has left Marco Silva’s side hovering precariously in 17th place in the Premier League, just three points above the relegation zone. A midweek League Cup victory over League One side Wycombe Wanderers was secured only after teenager Josh King scored his first senior goal to force a penalty shootout, and the need to find some semblance of form when Vítor Pereira’s basement dwellers come calling on Saturday afternoon is pressing.
Visits to Everton and Spurs lie ahead, either side of what promises to be a testing home meeting with Sunderland. With Manchester City and Crystal Palace to follow at the start of December, the need to get points on the board is as urgent as it is obvious.
In other circumstances, Fulham could perhaps draw solace from the fact that Wolves arrive in wretched form, having failed to win a league match all season. Yet even that reality offers limited encouragement when you consider that, over the past four games, the visitors have taken two points to Fulham’s none.
If there is a silver lining for the Cottagers, it lies in the gradual emptying of the treatment room. Danish centre-back Joachim Andersen is set to return from a hamstring injury, while attacking midfield duo Harry Wilson and Emile Smith Rowe are in contention to provide a much needed injection of creativity. With forwards Rodrigo Muniz and Raúl Jiménez set to be assessed on the morning of the game, along with AC Milan loanee Samuel Chukwueze, Fulham will be hopeful they can finally pick up a potentially season-turning result.
All eyes on Arne Slot’s teamsheet as Liverpool host Aston Villa
With each successive goal that has flown past Giorgi Mamardashvili in the absence of Alisson Becker, the feeling has deepened that Liverpool need to get back to basics. It is hard to overemphasise Alisson’s importance to Arne Slot’s side. The Brazil goalkeeper not only adds an abundance of class and experience to Liverpool’s back line, he also brings infectious composure and iron-willed leadership. Any team in the world would feel the loss of such a player.
All of which is no slight on the abilities of Mamardashvili. The 25-year-old Georgia international, signed this summer from Valencia in a deal worth up to £29m, has made some notable saves in his four Premier League appearances to date, even if the feeling persists that he cannot be entirely absolved from blame for some of the 10 goals Liverpool have conceded in those games. In time, he could prove a worthy successor to Alisson.
The bottom line, however, is that Liverpool’s defence is leaking too many goals, with Alisson’s injury magnifying the deleterious effects of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s departure to Real Madrid and the failure of Milos Kerkez to reproduce the form that persuaded the club to pay Bournemouth £40m for his services. The resulting uncertainty has seeped into the performances of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté, with the cumulative effect evident in a run of six defeats in seven games across all competitions.
Defeat against Aston Villa on Saturday night would equal the club’s worst league sequence since 1953/54, when Donald Welsh’s side were relegated to the Second Division. Clearly something has to change, and all eyes will be on Slot’s teamsheet come Saturday evening, particularly after the youthful lineup the Dutchman named for the midweek defeat by Crystal Palace.
For weeks, fans and pundits alike have been crying out for the restoration of vice-captain Andy Robertson at left-back. The 31-year-old’s authority and defensive nous have been sorely missed, not least by Van Dijk and Konaté, who would surely benefit from the reassuringly familiar presence alongside them. A similar argument could be made for the introduction of Joe Gomez at right-back.
While it is true that neither Robertson nor Gomez made an irresistible case for their continued inclusion against Palace on Wednesday night, it should also be acknowledged that Slot’s use of a back three did little to help. Assuming Liverpool revert to a four-man defence against Villa, it would surely make sense to deploy them in a more familiar defensive set-up, adding steel to what has of late been the softest of underbellies.
That is not to say Slot should simply abandon his plan to replace the more varied creative threat Alexander-Arnold and Robertson brought to the full-back positions under Jürgen Klopp with the pace and directness of Kerkez and fellow summer signing Jeremie Frimpong. It is simply to acknowledge the difficulty of making that transition in a period of vulnerability rooted partly in the absence of Alisson, but also compounded by Luis Díaz’s departure to Bayern Munich and the frequent deployment of Dominik Szoboszlai at right-back, changes that have diminished Liverpool’s ability to defend from the front.
It will be fascinating to see whether Slot elects to change tack. The Dutchman is an inveterate gambler, as evidenced by his trademark policy of throwing on attackers in numbers when Liverpool fall behind. While his preference to be bold rather than die wondering frequently paid off in last season’s title-winning campaign, it has more often tended to backfire of late. That trend was especially notable away to Crystal Palace and at home against Manchester United, when attacking substitutions helped Liverpool to draw level but on both occasions left them too open defensively, resulting in late winners for the opposition.
“I would be more than open to adapt in certain situations,” Slot said on Friday. “But I don’t think the story, at least in my opinion, is that we concede chance after chance after chance and are too open. It’s absolutely not like this.
“I don’t see a reason to change our playing style completely. But we need to do better in not conceding goals, that’s for sure.”
Selecting personnel capable of making good on that ambition would seem a good place to start.
Time for Manchester City to prove they are not just ‘the Erling Haaland team’
Since Bournemouth won promotion from the Championship in the summer of 2022, they have made three unsuccessful visits to the Etihad, losing by an aggregate score-line of 13-2.
The scorers for Manchester City over that period? Bernardo Silva leads the way, scoring a brace in a 6-1 demolition in November 2023 and another in last season’s 3-1 victory. Phil Foden has two, while the remaining goals were shared out between Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Jérémy Doku, Manuel Akanji, Nathan Aké, Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne and Bournemouth’s Jefferson Lerma, the victim of an unfortunate deflection in City’s 4-0 win in August 2022.
The notable exception? Erling Haaland, of course. The Norwegian goal machine has yet to complete 90 minutes on home turf against Sunday afternoon’s visitors, and while it would be pushing it to suggest they have become the 25-year-old’s bogey team – he has twice found the net at the Vitality Stadium – City have not traditionally had to rely on their attacking talisman against Bournemouth at Eastlands.
The question is whether that trend will continue on Sunday. Haaland has scored 11 of Manchester City’s 17 Premier League goals this season, leading to suggestions in some quarters that Pep Guardiola’s side have become overreliant on the forward. Goals from Doku, Marmoush and Rayan Cherki laid the foundations of a riposte in City’s midweek League Cup win at Swansea, when Haaland was rested. But with Bournemouth flying high in second spot, it will be all hands on deck for the home side on Sunday. The time has come for other players to shoulder their share of the goal-scoring burden.
Jordan Pickford’s return to Sunderland in the Premier League this weekend
“He’s a Mackem, he’s a blue, he’s a Toffee through and through /He hates Newcastle, he hates the sh*te, Jordan Pickford is dynamite.” Jordan Pickford admits that, during matches, he sometimes mumbles the chant Everton fans have devised in his honour. There could be no more appropriate setting for a quiet rendition than the Stadium of Light. The 31-year-old will return to his boyhood club on Monday night for the first time since his £30 move to Merseyside in May 2017 and, for a player whose emotions are rarely far from the surface, it is sure to be a poignant occasion.
Traditionally the Premier League’s leading pantomime villain, Pickford has grown accustomed to getting stick from opposing fans, and adept at returning it in spades. On Wearside, though, he can be virtually assured of a warm reception. It is no secret the Sunderland-born goalkeeper retains a deep affection for Régis Le Bris’s side, whom he cheered on from the stands during last season’s playoff semi-final win over Coventry. Pickford, whose first Premier League home match for Sunderland came against Everton in September 2016, has been looking forward to this fixture ever since his former club’s promotion was confirmed.
“I can’t wait to get up there and play them at the Stadium of Light, it’s going to be a great moment for me,” said Pickford.
It took Evertonians eight seasons to come up with Pickford’s new song. With Monday’s fixture in mind, their homage to the keeper’s Sunderland roots and loyalty to the blue half of Merseyside comes not a moment too soon – even if the home support will be hoping their former keeper is anything but “dynamite” on the night.
