{"id":387982,"date":"2026-01-04T20:47:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T20:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/387982\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T20:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T20:47:16","slug":"fulham-2-2-liverpool-jan-4-2026-game-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/387982\/","title":{"rendered":"Fulham 2-2 Liverpool (Jan 4, 2026) Game Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liverpool’s hopes of finishing in the Premier League’s top four received a damaging blow as Fulham’s Harrison Reed<\/a> struck one of the goals of the season in the seventh minute of stoppage time to earn Fulham<\/a> a 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage.<\/p>\n

Seconds earlier it had been Liverpool<\/a> celebrating, Cody Gakpo<\/a> finishing from close range for what had looked like a sure winner for the champions.<\/p>\n

It had been another largely blunt attacking display by Arne Slot’s side and the last thing they needed after Thursday’s dour goalless statement against Leeds, but they had recovered well from a poor first half to seemingly have the game won.<\/p>\n

Harry Wilson<\/a> gave Fulham a half-time lead before Florian Wirtz<\/a> equalised, a goal that owed much to the footwork of Conor Bradley<\/a>. It was his run and pass that set up Liverpool’s record signing to score his second league goal.<\/p>\n

Gakpo’s finish in the fourth added minute, shovelling the ball over the line from a few yards out, looked to have put them in charge in the race to finish fourth, before a remarkable strike from substitute Reed who found the top corner from 30 yards.<\/p>\n

Fulham had gone in front after 17 minutes. A ball out from the back by Jorge Cuenca<\/a> was diverted over the top via a devilish flick from Ra\u00fal Jim\u00e9nez<\/a>, and racing onto it was Harry Wilson, able to get his shot off before Ryan Gravenberch<\/a> could get across and finishing into the corner past Alisson.<\/p>\n

An offside flag put Fulham celebrations on pause, but a VAR review determined Virgil van Dijk<\/a> had played Wilson onside by the narrowest margin, and the former Liverpool academy player had his sixth goal for the season.<\/p>\n

The first half ended without the champions having managed a shot on target, their ample possession used mostly to shuffle the ball around in front of Fulham’s back five and with little sign of where a breakthrough might come from.<\/p>\n

Gakpo was standing three yards offside when he put the ball in the net at the start of the second half, though Fulham’s clumsy failed attempt to clear their lines in the build-up at least provided reason for encouragement.<\/p>\n

Alexis Mac Allister<\/a> headed against bar after losing his man at a corner as further shoots of promise began to emerge.<\/p>\n

Slot’s side looked rebooted since the interval and an equaliser was plainly coming. It arrived just before the hour and VAR again was needed to to intercede over the tightest of calls.<\/p>\n

A lovely, mazy run from Bradley carried Liverpool’s right-back into the Fulham box, squeaking his pass through to the onrushing Wirtz who kept level with Issa Diop<\/a> by a gnat’s wing before sweeping into the corner.<\/p>\n

Liverpool continued to have the better of things but the defensive vulnerability that has hamstrung any hope of defending their title struck again 13 minutes from time and nearly cost them dearly.<\/p>\n

Antonee Robinson’s simple long pass sent Jimenez clean through against Alisson. The Reds goalkeeper raced out to save on the edge of his box but failed to hold it leaving the goal unguarded. Wilson’s follow-up struck the crossbar, Van Dijk hoofed it to safety and Liverpool had been handed an almighty reprieve.<\/p>\n

Stunning late drama followed to give Fulham the draw that deserved, but not the one they were expecting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool’s hopes of finishing in the Premier League’s top four received a damaging blow as Fulham’s Harrison Reed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-387982","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-soccer","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}