(Football news) Though they lost 2-1, the Cottagers are still alive and well after having battled back from behind to score the first goal in their first meeting at Anfield two weeks ago.
Even though Liverpool emerged from the Premier League extravaganza with a 4-3 victory, Fulham’s seven-goal display in December should have given them no trouble finding the back of the net. Willian’s goal just 19 minutes into the game stunned the Kop into silence.
The ex-Chelsea man made the most of an uncharacteristic Virgil van Dijk blunder, and Fulham’s rigid defensive structure held out until Curtis Jones’s highly fortuitous, deflected equaliser, which came mere moments before Cody Gakpo completed a quintessential Reds turnaround.
The introductions of Gakpo and chaos agent Darwin Nunez – who ended the night with two assists to his name – proved to be Fulham’s downfall at Anfield, but there was no sense of doom and gloom among the travelling fans, as their first-ever EFL Cup semi-final tie is far from a foregone conclusion.
Aiming to become the 37th different team to compete in the EFL Cup final, Fulham must buck an unsightly trend that has bedevilled many first-leg losers before them, as only 25% of teams to suffer defeat in the opening semi-final match successfully turned the tie around in the second meeting.
The Cottagers’ morale levels were not refilled during a West London derby with Chelsea three days later, where Cole Palmer’s spot kick sent Fulham back to Craven Cottage empty-handed, but Silva’s men now welcome their Merseyside foes to a ground where they have triumphed in five of their last six matches in all tournaments.
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