Fulham punished Liverpool for the first half show, winning 3-2 in Craven Cottage as Arne Slot’s leader suffered only his second Premier League defeat this season.

Liverpool had a chance to clear 14 points after Arsenal’s draw with Everton, but Everton suffered three hits after Alexis Mac Allister hit a long-range opener as the Goats ended their unbeaten run of 26 games.

After Ryan Sessegnon slammed Fulham’s level division, the turnaround began with a path on the thigh of temporary Liverpool right-back Curtis Jones.

It was an ugly target recognized for Liverpool, followed by Andrew Robertson’s miserable pass gift Fulham owned and allowed Alex Iwobi to beat Caoimhin Kelleher by deflection.

Liverpool were still rolling up when Rodrigo Muniz added Fulham’s third goal in Kelleher’s game as a great skill made him hit a tall ball on the edge of the box, over Virgil Van Dijk.

It was the first time since losing to Aston Villa 7-2 in October 2020, Liverpool had lost three times in the first half of the Premier League, and they got back their return despite Luis Diaz reducing the passes to replace Conor Bradley.

Liverpool had other opportunities, Mohamed Salah exploded from Diaz’s cross, replacing Harvey Elliott with a shot at the bar, but Fulham won good value after his victory after defeating Arsenal and Crystal Palace.

They rose to eighth place, with the victory raising their hopes for European qualifications, while Liverpool led 11 points at Arsenal and missed another chance to move towards the Premier League title.

Watch: All Targets

Slot: Failed error

Liverpool boss Arne slot arrive Sky movement:

“There is always a lot of attention around Liverpool. This is not what started now. It was there all season.

“Of course, people want to create stories, but for me, that’s playing with Fulham. They’re a good team and if you make three mistakes, it’s very difficult to win the game.

“Overall, we didn’t make a lot of these mistakes, let alone three games. Today, we (Ibrahim) Konate also lost the ball.

“The second half is much better than the first one, but if you admit three goals like this, it’s hard to win football at this level.

“You might feel like we’re creating a lot of opportunities, we have some, but unfortunately, we ended up lacking time to score a third goal.”

Analysis: Van Dijk’s vulnerability

In his press conference, the player defended Van Dijk’s defense, saying any defender could play against the forward like Everton’s Beto and Fulham’s Muniz. But this is another show of 33-year-old vulnerability.

Van Dijk is usually mean, struggling to deal with Beto’s run in a 1-0 victory over Everton on Wednesday, while Muniz makes him better as he proves decisive goal at Craven Cottage. The striker’s touch is excellent. Van Dijk’s positioning is not.

He is not the only Liverpool defender who struggles in the game. In fact, they all did it. Ibrahima Konate was replaced by slots midway through the second half, but it makes sense for the Liverpool boss to take off either of them.

Jones could only bring Timothy Castagne’s cross into Sessegnon’s opening goal, Robertson was convicted of his second goal, and his slack pass gave Iwobi a score. Robertson hurriedly tried to correct his mistake, but eventually deflected Iwobi’s shot.

Van Dijk’s mistake, got the wrong side of Muniz and allowed him to pull a high ball from the sky and blocked it for 14 minutes, which made Liverpool work hard to do it. Their titles are not in danger, but are losing for the third time in four games in all games, and the defensive swing of the usually reliable players is what attracts attention.

Silva: The first half is close to perfection

Fulham boss Marco Silva arrive Sky movement:

“Our first half was great. I said, even if you try to get perfection, I don’t exist, but you have to get close to perfection and our first half was there.

“It wasn’t easy to start in the first 10 minutes and admit that the goal was not easy. The team’s reaction was the highest, with 10 shots in the first half and scored 3 goals.

“But for us, the main thing is that we start to press their way from the first minute of the game. Very good, high pace, always high energy.

“I think that’s the key to us making them uncomfortable in the game and we have some great time on the ball.

“Overall, I think we deserve three points because we were the best team on the court throughout the game.”

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