Liverpool knows it needs three points against Fulham on Sunday. Jürgen Klopp’s team appears to be much stronger at the moment, but several key players remain absent.
Liverpool has a big week ahead of it as it looks to keep its Premier League title aspirations alive. The Reds have slid to third place in the table, three points behind leaders Arsenal, ahead of Sunday’s match against Fulham.
The journey to Craven Cottage is the first of three away games in the next six days, with the Merseyside derby against Everton at Goodison Park coming in midweek. Following that, Liverpool will travel to West Ham on Saturday, with Jürgen Klopp admitting his team will most likely need to win all six remaining games.
His team did return to winning ways against Atalanta on Thursday night, but the 1-0 victory in Italy was insufficient, as Liverpool were eliminated from the competition in the quarterfinals.
It means there will be no last farewell in Dublin, with Liverpool having only six games remaining in the Klopp era. He travels to Craven Cottage without five players, with Conor Bradley still out.
The Reds defender suffered an ankle injury against Crystal Palace last weekend, and while scans revealed no significant damage, he is expected to miss a few weeks. There is hope that Bradley will feature in the final weeks of the season.
Stefan Bajčetić, a young midfielder who recently played for the Under-21s, is still recovering from a long lay-off and hasn’t traveled yet. Meanwhile, Thiago Alcântara, Joël Matip, and Ben Doak are long-term absentees for Liverpool.
Klopp told Liverpool’s official website before of Sunday’s match: “It is obviously not in our control, and it is not about that. I think if we win all of our games, we have a decent chance of winning the championship. If not, there’s a strong probability someone is there. Maybe we simply need to win five or so, but no one knows.
“The thing is clear: if you want to win the Premier League, you must be close to perfection.” And if we are not ideal, you must deal with setbacks in the finest possible or perfect way — which is exactly what we are currently doing.”
According to Liverpool.com, Arsenal’s win against Wolves on Saturday night increases the pressure on Liverpool to win at Fulham. Finally, failure to do so will effectively destroy its title ambitions. Klopp will be hoping for an improvement on last weekend’s setback to Crystal Palace, where it appeared that the long season had taken its toll. With six games remaining in the German’s stay, his players will undoubtedly want to deliver strong performances.
