Jota’s goal gives the leaders a point despite Robertson’s red card in the exciting match

Diogo Jota scored within eight minutes of his return from an 11-match injury absence to salvage a point for Liverpool as the 10-man Premier League leaders avoided a shock defeat at home to Fulham.

Rodrigo Muniz’s improvised goal from close range 14 minutes from time looked to have ended the Reds’ 18-game unbeaten run, with Anthony Robinson setting up the Brazilian striker to cross the ball after decisive work from Alex Iwobi on Fulham’s left.

Liverpool, who had Andy Robertson sent off six minutes after Andrea Pereira scored in the 11th minute, achieved the first equalizer when Cody Jacobo met Mohamed Salah’s pass with a header two minutes after the end of the first half.

Fulham rose to ninth place after becoming the first of the four teams visiting Anfield to score, while Liverpool is five points ahead of second-placed Chelsea, who host Brentford on Sunday (7pm GMT).

💪🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/sE1oH5yBNw

– Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 14, 2024

Liverpool vs Fulham

Arne Slott’s side have been in quiet form since their 1-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest on September 14, including winning their last three games at Anfield 2-0 against Manchester City, Real Madrid and Aston Villa.

In the opposition’s technical area, his counterpart Marco Silva has not achieved a win in all ten of his meetings with Liverpool as coach – but left-back Robertson’s poor start to the match put his team on course for almost three points.

Fast starts from @Fulham 🏎️

The Cottagers have opened the scoring early in each of their last three games! pic.twitter.com/l88uaUBAZT

— English Premier League (@premierleague) December 14, 2024

After receiving treatment early on, Robertson may have wished he had gone off when Robinson’s cross sailed over his head and reached Pereira at the far post, who headed it into the roof of the net through the Scotland captain.

Robertson was then sent off after miscontrolling the ball into Harry Wilson’s path and hastily pulling him off in an attempt to atone for his mistake, although there was a lengthy VAR to check for offside before confirming the decision.

AP at Anfield. 💥 pic.twitter.com/bUUpU8Ic2j

— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) December 14, 2024

Jota’s goal after returning from injury

Silva’s players looked comfortable but Liverpool looked nothing like a tired team, with Ryan Gravenbrech moved to central defense while Joe Gomez took over for Robertson on the left.

Jacobo’s goal was a thrilling start to the second half for his side, but Muniz restored Fulham’s lead within nine minutes of coming on and put them within sight of a first win in seven games against Liverpool, having last beaten them at Anfield in 2021.

100 – Mohamed Salah has now provided 100 assists for Liverpool in all competitions, with 13 coming this season – the most of any player in the Premier League in 2024-25. Centurion. pic.twitter.com/nvHTy3lOfs

– OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 14, 2024

Slott’s late changes included the introduction of Darwin Nunez, Harvey Elliott and Jota up front, and the Portugal international showed why Liverpool have been missing him.

Jota received Nunez’s pass, then raced forward into the penalty area and put the ball into the net four minutes before the end of the match to score his first home goal in the league in more than 10 months.