Premier League Predictions: Liverpool to beat Fulham at Craven Cottage

Liverpool will aim for a strong start at Fulham when both sides meet at Craven Cottage on Saturday in a premier league fixture. (Photo credi...

Liverpool will aim for a strong start at Fulham when both sides meet at Craven Cottage on Saturday in a premier league fixture. (Photo credit: Premierleague.com)

 Fulham vs Liverpool
Craven Cottage
12:30pm

The Premier League season is up and running already and Liverpool will open the second matchday away at Fulham after Arsenal beat Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Friday night in the league curtain raiser with goals from Gabriel Martinelli and an unfortunate Marc Guehi own goal.

Liverpool and Manchester City are the title favorites and a good start on their matchday one would go a long way in keeping the pressure up and handing the baton to the Citizens to level up when the meet Westham later on Sunday.

Fulham returns to the premier league with high optimism, they have a reputation of going back to the championship after just one season and that is one thing coach Marco Silva will seek to halt and that will start from the game against last season’s runners up.

Liverpool will file out without Sadio Mane who moved on to Bayern Munich but the Kops could hand a starting role to new signing Darwin Nunez who got off the mark in the 3-1 success against Manchester City in the Shield Cup.

Fulham made some signings that would shape their season, one of them is Arsenal’s Bernd Leno who could be sent straight into the line of fire against Liverpool. Kevin Mbabu and Paulinha also joined but can they help the Lilywhites stay up?

How will they line up? Fulham must be conservative; they cannot afford to be overly expressive against a side that averages four goals on matchday one fixtures. Mohammed Salah is the only man to have scored in each of the last five league opening days and you won’t put it past him to do so again on Saturday.

Liverpool will aim for a strong start and that is a bad omen for Silva’s side. The Craven Cottage crowd will roar as much as they can but nothing points into the direction of success for them against the quality of their visitors.

If you’re a Fulham fan, you’d look at the last five fixtures and nurse some hopes. Liverpool have failed to beat the Cottagers in any of the last two meetings with Fulham winning the last time they met 1-0 at Anfield but that lightening doesn’t look like striking again.

Verdict: Liverpool to win.