King Kenny’s magic is rubbing off at Anfield as Liverpool beat Fulham 1-0 to move up to seventh place in the Premier League. An own goal from Fulham’s John Pantsil was enough to give Liverpool a 1-0 win over Fulham at Anfield and its second successive victory.
Liverpool are unbeaten in their last three games and a big reason is the resurgence of Fernando Torres. Torres is beginning to look more and more like the world class striker be was before he got injured last season, while Raul Meireles is starting to show why Liverpool paid £11.5million for him.
Torres thought he had put Liverpool one up after only six minutes when he ran on Raul Meireles’ through-ball and slotted the ball past David Stockdale, but the goal was called back for offside. A decision that the linesman got wrong.
Liverpool continued to create the best chances and Stockdale kept Fulham in the game. His best save in the first half was from a Meireles’ header that looked goalbound, until Stockdale sprang to his right to turn it away.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 52nd minute. Dirk Kuyt intercepted a wayward pass and set up Torres for a low drive that deflected off Brede Hangeland and bounced back off a post. In the mayhem that followed, Pantsil did his best to clear but sliced the ball past Stockdale and over the line.
That goal seemed to waken up Fulham and they had several chances late to tie the game up. Aaron Hughes forced Reina into a superb low save and the Northern Ireland international’s central-defensive partner Hangeland saw his header hacked clear off the line by Meireles.
But it was to be Liverpool’s night and with three of their next four games against Stoke, Wigan, and West Ham (plus Chelsea), Liverpool have a chance to put together a little winning streak. Fulham on the other hand are in 15th, only 3 points above the bottom three and are being dragged down into a relegation battle.