MatchThe opposition lowdown: Fulham

Recent form

Fulham begin the weekend in 12th place in the table having accumulated 42 points from their 33 games so far this season.

Last time out, on Sunday, the Cottagers claimed a 2-0 victory away at West Ham United, with goals in either half from Andreas Pereira earning all three points.

That result made it five wins and a total of 16 points from the past 10 outings in the league for Silva’s men, who are now mathematically guaranteed another year in the top flight.

Ones to watch

Rodrigo Muniz leads Fulham’s scoring chart in the Premier League this season with eight goals, and the Brazilian forward was named the division’s Player of the Month for March.

Bobby De Cordova-Reid has delivered six strikes, while Alex Iwobi and Raul Jimenez have each netted five times.

Pereira has been the team’s chief assist-maker with seven in league football, just ahead of full-back Antonee Robinson on six.

Only Arsenal’s David Raya has registered more Premier League clean sheets this term than Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno, who has nine.

Squad news

The hosts currently have an entirely clean bill of health within the squad, and speaking on Friday, Silva was hopeful that would continue to be the case ahead of the Reds’ visit.

“Until now everything is going OK,” said the Portuguese.

“We have another session tomorrow [Saturday] and we have to assess after that. But until now everyone looks like he is going to be available for the match.”

Previous meetings

Liverpool and the Cottagers have already clashed on three occasions in 2023-24.

The Reds trailed 3-2 with four minutes left of the Anfield league fixture in December, but goals from Wataru Endo and Trent Alexander-Arnold snatched all three points.

The clubs then met in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup. Liverpool came from a goal down to establish a 2-1 advantage in the home leg and a 1-1 draw in the return sent them through to Wembley.

In this corresponding game last season, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah scored in a 2-2 draw on the opening day.

What they said

Fulham head coach Silva

“It’s a big one, a big game ahead of us at Craven Cottage, on a Sunday, it’s going to be another great one for us. We want to play at our best level. It is going to be the fourth time [playing Liverpool this season]. Of course, they have been tight games all of them, at Anfield, at the Cottage as well in the second leg of the semi-final. Even last season, the games were really tight for both sides. Top side, they want to react. They lost the last game in the Premier League, out of the Europa League as well and of course we are going to see a reaction from them.

“Probably the game was going to be difficult before the last two matches – right now, probably it is going to be even more difficult because I am 100 per cent sure a strong reaction will come from them. But it is going to be good at the same time because it is going to demand a very good performance from us and for us to be at our best level. Playing at home, we want to get a good result and when you start to prepare these types of games, a good result for us is always to try to win the game, even if you face a team that is going to be there at the top fighting for the title.”