Match reportNgumoha and Salah strike in Liverpool victory over Fulham at Anfield
Ngumoha opened his Anfield account competitively with a beautiful curler and, four minutes later, Salah netted in similar fashion.
Those strikes were enough to get the Reds back to winning ways on Saturday evening after three consecutive away defeats.
The result came also as a fillip ahead of the need to overturn a Champions League deficit against Paris Saint-Germain back in L4 on Tuesday.
Team
Arne Slot opted for five changes to his XI, including starts for Cody Gakpo, Ngumoha and Salah in the attack.
Liverpool: Mamardashvili, Van Dijk, Konate, Wirtz (Mac Allister, 68), Szoboszlai, Salah (Nyoni, 89), Jones (Gravenberch, 46), Gakpo, Robertson, Frimpong (Gomez, 68), Ngumoha (Isak, 68).
Unused subs: Woodman, Kerkez, Chiesa, Ekitike.
First half
There was an immediate refrain of Andy Robertson’s own song as supporters saluted the left-back after the announcement he will leave the club at the end of this campaign.
Goalmouth incident was minimal in the opening 10 minutes, until a sight of goal for Robertson, whose low hit was blocked by Harry Wilson when picked out by Jeremie Frimpong’s pullback.
Salah was then foiled, Bernd Leno getting down to push away his drive following industrious work from Frimpong on the right flank again.
Referee Anthony Taylor was uninterested in claims for a penalty as Ngumoha hit the turf under the attention of Oscar Bobb while darting into the area.
Gakpo swiped wide from the edge of the box and Salah was blocked at close range by Sander Berge, with Liverpool dominating the play.
The visitors did carve out a shooting chance for Bobb just past the half-hour mark that Giorgi Mamardashvili shovelled away.
Wilson also lofted a finish over the crossbar, and the breakthrough came at the other end of the pitch soon after.
Taylor signalled advantage when Gakpo was wrestled to the ground near the centre-circle, allowing Florian Wirtz to feed the ball out to Ngumoha on the left.
A series of step-overs and jinks created just the space the No.73 wanted to arc a brilliant finish between Leno’s despairing dive and the right-hand post.
And Slot’s side compounded their new lead swiftly.
Once more, Ngumoha’s dribbling was key, with his cross into the middle controlled by Gakpo and served on to Salah, who curled a precise strike back into the opposite left corner.
Second half
Ryan Gravenberch replaced Curtis Jones when the players re-emerged, the latter having needed treatment on the cusp of the interval.
Fulham imposed themselves in the early phases and did have the ball in the net, though it was immediately ruled out for offside.
Liverpool could have made it three from a slick counter-attack but Gakpo could not adequately bring Frimpong’s cross under control yards out.
Wirtz was unable to keep the ball down when he tried to finish Ngumoha’s back-post cross, before another passage of pressure from the away team.
Rodrigo Muniz had their best chance, escaping into freedom to meet a corner kick from the right. His header, however, was deflected wide.
A triple change ahead of the final quarter of the game saw Joe Gomez, Alexander Isak and Alexis Mac Allister enter the fray for the Reds.
Liverpool spurned several half-chances as time ticked away and Fulham were inches away from halving their deficit, Emile Smith Rowe’s side-footer from a Ryan Sessegnon cross narrowly off target.
Mac Allister and Raul Jimenez each rasped loose balls past the post and the score remained unchanged to confirm three points for Slot’s charges.
Attendance: 60,401