Liverpool suffered their second Premier League defeat of the season away at Fulham on Sunday but title rivals Arsenal dropped points of their own on Saturday lunchtime
Arsenal were given a glimmer of hope in the title race on Sunday as league leaders Liverpool lost for just the second time all season. Fulham couldn’t overcome Arsenal in midweek at the Emirates Stadium, but handed Arne Slot’s men a 3-2 defeat at Craven Cottage.
Ryan Sessegnon, Alex Iwobi and Rodrigo Muniz scored Fulham’s goals, with Alexis Mac Allister and Luis Diaz on target for the visitors. It means the gap between first and second stands at 11 points with seven games remaining, though it might have been nine had Arsenal won at Everton on Saturday lunchtime.
That draw at Goodison Park was playing on the minds of some Arsenal supporters after their rivals lost in West London. A contentious penalty denied Arsenal victory on Merseyside, and some wondered what might have happened if Myles Lewis-Skelly wasn’t penalised for his challenge on Jack Harrison.
“Makes that penalty even harder to take! But it is what it is,” one fan wrote on social media. “Liverpool better win this game otherwise spotlight goes back to that atrocious refereeing from yesterday,” wrote another during the first half of the Reds’ defeat.
“If only we beat West Ham, Man Utd [and] Everton things could have been different,” wrote a third. “The West Ham game is where it all ended.”
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The West Ham game in question, a 1-0 home defeat in February, came after injuries decimated Arsenal’s front-line. Kai Haverz, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka were all missing for the derby, where Jarrod Bowen scored the only goal of the game for the visitors.
“If we had only Saka and Havertz available we would have won it,” wrote one fan as they lamented the club’s injury woes during the efforts to reel in Liverpool. “This really just goes back to how lucky Liverpool have been to avoid long term injuries, while our entire preferred front three has missed significant time,” was the verdict from another.
“That was a difficult spell of 14 minutes [three goals conceded],” Liverpool manager Arne Slot told Sky Sports after his team’s defeat. “Apart from [Fulham’s] quality and finishing, it was mostly to do with our errors.
“In general we are not making many of these errors – let alone three in one game. Our second half performance was so much better but it is hard to win a game at this level if you concede three in the first half.
“Unfortunately we lacked time in the end to score a third. People want to make stories which is their job. Many teams find it difficult to play Fulham. The second half performance was outstanding. We had chances but in the end we lacked time.”
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