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TNT Sports couldn’t pick us for this one as they were supposed to be covering the derby last week, meaning that we are in that rare Saturday 3:00pm slot and not on TV. The thing is, Saturday at 3:00pm is still the ideal slot for a match. It’s not ridiculously early and doesn’t finish ridiculously late so you still have Saturday night to plan for, and hopefully all of Sunday to enjoy. A bit like with the British government going back forever it seems, the PL’s chase for the foreign gravy train means they have to bow to the whims of foreign TV markets. If Asia wants a PL match on during their peak Saturday night slot, it means a lunchtime game over here. Money takes precedence over quality and any real enjoyment. Plus ça change. After facing one of City’s feeder teams in the Champions League, we now take on Fulham at Anfield. They are one of those sides that can be a real handful on the day, especially if you are not on it yourselves. Not consistent enough to challenge for a top 4 place, but with a fair wind could make one of the other European places. Marco Silva has been there for 3 years now (longer than he spent at either Hull or Everton) so has had time to properly bed in his ideas. He wants his players to let the opposition know they’ve been in a game, win, lose or draw. We saw that last season where we were not allowed to get too comfortable in any of the 4 games we played. Not least in the corresponding league fixture last season, which was a real ding-dong battle needing some late heroics from both Endo and Trent. In the summer, they spent a lot of money to sign defender Andersen from Palace, midfielder Berge from Burnley, and attacking midfielder Smith-Rowe from Arsenal. He was always on the fringes of Arteta’s squad, had seen what regular game time had done for Palmer at Chelsea, and decided he needed to fly the nest. Harry Wilson had to make the same decision with us a few years ago, and he also opted for Fulham. They got a significant chunk of their outlay back on their new signings with the sale of Palhinha to sit on Bayern’s bench. They are a side that are unlikely to play on the front foot against the bigger sides, but rather try to counter quickly and crisply. They should have got something at the Etihad, and in their last 2 fixtures have beaten Brighton and drawn with Arsenal. We’ve seen what they can do if we aren’t at the races so we must ensure that everybody is far more tuned in defensively, more precise in our control and use of the ball, and much more ruthless in the attacking third. None of the sloppiness we saw at Southampton, Newcastle and Girona. Ali returned to action at Girona and should be OK to start again, and maybe Diogo (who also returned to training recently) might be an option off the bench. Maybe the Italian stallion will have overcome his sickness and be ready to be involved once more (you never know!). Macca is suspended for this one (he would have been missing for the derby had it gone ahead), and Conor, Ibou and Kostas are still unavailable. I’d expect Slot will go strong for this one with who he has available, and plan on more of a reshuffle for the League Cup tie next week. How have our previous managers got on in their first home fixture against Fulham? It’s a very good record, though Fulham didn’t play in the top flight until 2001, and have spent a few years in the second tier since then. Souness...N/A Evans...N/A Houllier...12/12/2001...Liverpool 0-0 Fulham Benitez...05/02/2005...Liverpool 3-1 Fulham (Morientes, Hyypia, Baros) Hodgson...N/A Dalglish...26/01/2011...Liverpool 1-0 Fulham (Paintsil og) Rodgers...22/12/2012...Liverpool 4-0 Fulham (Skrtel, Gerrard, Downing, Suarez) Klopp...11/11/2018...Liverpool 2-0 Fulham (Salah, Shaqiri) I don't ask for much. Maximum motivation, control, application, attitude and concentration from minute one. 3 points please. Get it done!