Fulham

While you can't particularly grumble about losing to a team of Liverpool's quality, Fulham's performance in the second half after working so hard to get the equaliser before half-time was a bit disappointing on Sunday.

Marco Silva made one enforced change for the game as Willian dropped out for Bobby Decordova-Reid because of a minor injury.

Willian has been a revelation since joining Fulham and on Sunday it was evident how reliant we are on him, particularly against sides higher up the league.

His skill allows us to keep the ball in advanced areas and his experience means that he nearly always makes the correct decision. Also he often provides an easy out-ball for the man in possession, which we especially missed on Sunday with Liverpool's intense pressing.

Willian will return soon, but seeing us struggle without him does make me worry about how we'll eventually replace him. He's 36 in August and his contract expires in the summer.

Renewing again for another season now feels like a necessity, but in the meantime we have to find a longer-term replacement.

It's not just about finding another left-winger, but also finding somebody else with his natural skill and a wisdom that just exudes from him every time he's on the pitch.

In the meantime, Fulham should just get Willian to renew as soon as possible, as we are quite clearly an inferior team when he's not in it.

Sammy James can be found at Fulhamish, external

Image source, Getty Images

Monday, 22 April marks Earth Day - a day in the international calendar that provides the opportunity to reflect, make change and understand more about sustainability and the impacts of climate change.

Sport and football are not immune to these issues and there has been increasing awareness of their relationship to the environment over the past few years.

Football has a global footprint and, as it continues to grow, it has been subject to questions and criticism over some of the decisions that could hinder efforts in reducing its impact, including expanding Uefa cup competitions and the men's Fifa World Cup.

The effects of adverse weather related to climate change has been increasingly felt, with a study last year showing extreme weather has affected 40% of football players and spectators.

But, football and its fanbase also have an opportunity to be part of the solution, with clubs like Forest Green Rovers showing how the sport's environmental footprint can be reduced.

We have taken a look into some of the key things Fulham are doing to become more sustainable:

• The Whites are a member of the British Association for Sustainable Sport, which is an organisation that aims to drive growth and understanding of sustainability in sport.

• 100% of the club's energy is procured from renewable sources.

• More than 2,000 items of first team and academy kit have been recycled to recipients of the Fulham FC Foundation's programme.

• Some 120 trees were planted at the Motspur Park training ground during 2023.

• The home, away and third kits are manufactured from 100% recycled materials and the club shop uses exclusively compostable carrier bags and recyclable product labels.

One important area all Premier League clubs can address to reduce their carbon footprint is their travel, as shown in BBC Sport research.

Why is this important?

Football For Future is a non-profit organisation working with stakeholders across football to create a more environmentally sustainable culture and founder Elliot Arthur-Worsop told BBC Sport: "Climate change will be the defining challenge of our generation, and the future of football will be affected too.

"We're already seeing the impacts, with more than 120,000 English grassroots games being called off annually, and major tournaments such as the World Cup and Afcon being moved because of extreme weather.

"Beyond the pitch, the climate crisis threatens livelihoods and global food and water security.

"With its unparalleled social influence, football has an opportunity to inspire global climate action, from micro-behaviours to essential policy change."

What would you like to see your club do more (or less) of to be greener?

We asked for your views on Liverpool's 3-1 win at Fulham on Sunday.

Here are some of your answers:

Fulham fans

Oistein: A very disappointing performance. We were giving the ball away too easily and so conceded the second and third goals. Liverpool were not at their best, but they were still good enough to beat a Fulham team without belief.

Will: It's a shame we couldn't get anything from this game, despite a recent good home record against Liverpool. In the first half, we played well and Castagne got his first goal for the club. After that, we just couldn't keep up with Liverpool.

Peter: Sadly, Fulham weren't really at it. Had they been, Liverpool probably would have suffered a further loss of points. It was not a great day for the neutral.

Dave: It was a poor second half and mistakes gave the goals away. There was no pressing from the forwards. Why is the team not playing at the minute?

Liverpool fans

Jack: Much better from Liverpool, who controlled the game throughout. Trent Alexander-Arnold brings a different class to the team.

Eddie: It was good to see the team full of energy again. Totally deserved win and could have been bigger. Let's go together and see where we end up.

Matt: Improved but still nowhere near where we should be. The goal we conceded was sloppy and Diaz, Nunez et al remain frustratingly profligate in front of goal. We've overachieved at the same time as better sides have stuttered, but we've failed to take full advantage. Got to play harder the last five games.

Daniel: This was a much better and needed performance! Lately, things haven’t been so good, but to get the win and a very vital three points at a difficult ground like Craven Cottage is a sign to both our title rivals that we’re still here! Top notch performances from Trent, Ryan and Diogo, and some great goals to cap it off. Let’s keep this going!

Mark Chapman introduces highlights and analysis from Sunday's four Premier League fixtures.

If you missed Match of the Day 2, you can catch up on the action on BBC iPlayer.

And you can watch highlights of Saturday's games here.

Listen back to Sunday's BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Sports Extra match commentaries in full:

Everton v Nottingham Forest

Fulham v Liverpool

Image source, Getty Images

It's difficult to criticise after a season in which Marco Silva has comfortably guided Fulham to mid-table safety, never in remote danger of being dragged into trouble.

But while 'on the beach' would be too harsh a description of his players, a third defeat in four games suggests the Cottagers' campaign is in danger of petering out timidly.

Of course, there is no shame in a loss to a Liverpool side chasing the Premier League title - but Fulham have made a habit of handing bloody noses to the big boys this season so it was a shame they could not do so again.

In fairness they were the equal of their visitors in the first half with Reds keeper Alisson forced into at least as much as opposite number Bernd Leno.

And when Timothy Castagne steered them level just before half-time, Silva would have sensed a real opportunity to produce another surprise result against a Reds outfit who had endured a confidence-sapping couple of weeks.

But an error-strewn start to the second half put paid to such aspirations.

Nonetheless, they will have a chance to bounce back with back-to-back London derbies against Crystal Palace and Brentford - buoyed by the knowledge their best recent displays have come on such occasions against West Ham and Tottenham.

• Liverpool have won seven of their last nine away games in the Premier League (D1 L1) – more than their previous 19 on the road beforehand (W6 D7 L6).

• Fulham suffered their 16th Premier League defeat of the season, now equalling their total for the whole of last term. Seven of those losses have come at Craven Cottage – one more than they lost at home in the league in 2022-23 (6).

• Liverpool have scored four goals from outside the box against Fulham in the Premier League this season, the first side to score so many against the same opponent in a Premier League campaign since Leeds v West Brom in 2020-21. The Reds last did so in 2015-16 against Aston Villa.

• Trent Alexander-Arnold scored his sixth direct free-kick goal in the Premier League - only Jamie Redknapp (8) and Steven Gerrard (7) have more for Liverpool.

• Diogo Jota scored the 100th goal of his English club career in all competitions across his time at Wolves (44 goals) and Liverpool (56).

• Fulham’s Joao Palhinha received his 13th yellow card of the Premier League season – the most of any player. After his 14 yellows last season, he is just the second player to be given 13 or yellow cards in two separate Premier League campaigns, after Olivier Dacourt (1998-99, 2000-01) and Robbie Savage (2001-02, 2003-04).

Liverpool put a frustrating fortnight behind them to reignite their Premier League title bid with a welcome win at Fulham.

Trent Alexander-Arnold, making a first league start in more than two months, curled a fabulous first-half free-kick into the top corner to put them ahead.

Timothy Castagne steered Fulham level before the break but Ryan Gravenberch's perfectly-measured 20-yard effort flew in off the post to restore the Reds' advantage.

Diogo Jota sealed the points with an accurate low finish past Bernd Leno from Cody Gakpo's through ball and the margin of victory could arguably have been greater.

Were you at the match or did you follow it from elsewhere?

Fulham fans - let us know your thoughts on the game here

How did you rate the side's performance, Liverpool fans?

Follow all of the reaction here

There are four Premier League games on Sunday, and we will bring you every moment.

All times are in BST

Listen to BBC radio commentaries of all games and follow live text updates here

Chris Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League matches again this season, against a variety of guests.

For this weekend's games, he takes on singer-songwriter and Arsenal fan Sam Tompkins.

Sutton's prediction: 1-1

All three games between these teams this season have been close, and I am expecting more of the same on Sunday.

Liverpool won a thriller 4-3 at Anfield in the league, followed by a 2-1 home win in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final. I was at Craven Cottage for the second leg, which ended up a 1-1 draw.

If Liverpool show any weaknesses at the weekend, Fulham are good enough to punish them.

Sam's prediction: 1-1

This is my rogue prediction of the weekend. I'm maybe a bit biased because I want Liverpool to drop more points so we can say "see you later, your title hopes are over" but Fulham are a good team. They have taken five points off us this season so they can do some damage here too.

Read the rest of their predictions here

Image source, Getty Images

Fulham manager Marco Silva has heaped praise on Jurgen Klopp in the lead up to Sunday's Premier League game against Liverpool.

The two sides have had intense encounters over the last two seasons with their last Premier League game being a 4-3 thriller with Trent Alexander-Arnold scoring the winner in the 88th minute.

Speaking about Klopp's decision to leave Liverpool this summer due to him no longer having the energy for the role, Silva said: "If Jurgen said this is the reason, we have to accept and understand. I understand what this job demands from ourselves.

"We have to understand the character and person of a manager and it always has been a pleasure to be with him on the touchline and to be challenging against him. The Premier League is going to miss him. He is a great man and character."

Marco Silva has been speaking to the media before hosting Liverpool on Sunday in the Premier League (16:30 BST).

Here are the key lines from the Fulham manager:

• Silva said he understands 'both viewpoints' on FA Cup replays being scrapped: "The fans like that competition because you can have all the clubs in it [and] you can have surprises all around. [But] the load of the games of teams who play Europa League, Champions League and other competitions, alongside postponed games is not a normal situation and has to be solved. I do understand how important the FA Cup is in England."

• He has been impressed by his side's recent form, attributing that to having all his players available: "In the last two months, we [have been] are in the best moments of the season. It creates competition which helps myself and the players reach different levels. Climbing up the table is our aim.".

• He praised Andreas Pereira's form but is still demanding more: "Last season he made a huge impact in our team. Last season and this season he is going to be our top assister. We want more from him to arrive in certain areas as he showed last game where he showed the desire and will to arrive in the area and follow the ball. It was nice to see him score and he has all the potential to do so."

• Recent games with Liverpool have been close: " Very good games [but] too open for managers to enjoy, like at Anfield and Craven Cottage. They are emotional games and tight games always and some of them have dramatic ends, like at Anfield. Last season, it was tough for them to play at Craven Cottage and [in January] in the Carabao Cup. We want to make life really difficult for them and we are hoping we can get a different result to the last game."

• He knows their opponents will be keen to bounce back from a difficult run of results week: "What I know is that Liverpool are going to react. They have come from tough results. Leaving the Europa League was tough for them, and losing three important points [against Crystal Palace]. We are going to face a reaction and have to prepare ourselves."

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences

Listen to live commentary of Fulham vs Liverpool from 16:30 BST on Sunday on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds

Here are the key facts and figures before Fulham host Liverpool in the Premier League (16:30 BST).

• Fulham have scored 49 Premier League goals this season, having netted 55 last season. The last time the Cottagers scored 50+ goals in consecutive Premier League seasons was in 2003-04 (52) and 2004-05 (52).

• Following their 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace last time out, Liverpool will be looking to avoid losing consecutive Premier League games for the first time since April 2023 (vs. Bournemouth and Manchester City). The Reds have suffered two league defeats in five games in London this season (W2 D1), last losing more in the capital in 2014-15 (3).

• Since losing 3-0 to Brentford in their first home Premier League game this season, Fulham have conceded just 13 goals in their past 15 games at Craven Cottage (0.9 per game). With six clean sheets at home so far, the Cottagers last had more in a Premier League campaign in 2010-11 (9).

• Liverpool have scored in each of their past 19 away Premier League matches, the longest current run of any side. In their entire league history, they’ve had one longer away scoring run, netting in 21 in a row between February 1955 and February 1956 in the second tier.

• Fulham’s Andreas Pereira has been involved in four goals in his past four Premier League appearances (2 goals, 2 assists), with his brace against West Ham more than he’d netted in his previous 34 games combined (1). Indeed, Pereira has more goal involvements than any other Fulham player since the start of last season (7 goals, 13 assists).

• Only Martin Odegaard (68) and Bruno Fernandes (59) have created more chances from open play in the Premier League this season than Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (58). He’s created four or more open play chances in five different games this season, with Roberto Firmino the last Reds player to do so more times in one season (10 in 2016-17)

Fulham have identified Chelsea's Trevoh Chalobah, 24, as a potential replacement for fellow English centre-back Tosin Adarabioyo, 26, who is expected to leave when his contract expires at the end of the season. (Teamtalk, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column

Sunday's win for Fulham over West Ham might have not grabbed the headlines amongst the surprise defeats for Arsenal and Liverpool, but it was definitely a much-needed one for the Whites.

After two defeats and a draw in relatively easy games, we were in danger of heading into a bit of an end-of-season winless death cycle.

While he did not score, Rodrigo Muniz was impressive once again for Fulham up front.

Last week, he was awarded the Premier League player of the month for March and, for us fans, it was a hugely significant moment.

It is only the third time an FFC player has won the award, with Louis Saha and Mark Schwarzer the previous recipients.

For Rodrigo to win this award is an extraordinary achievement.

This is a player who, while popular because of his infectious personality, very few gave a chance of actually becoming a serious top-flight player.

Despite his strong couple of months, I do think Muniz has much to prove.

However, considering the 22-year-old was our fourth-choice striker at the start of the campaign, I have now learned it is best to rule nothing out when it comes to Rodrigo.

Sammy James can be found at Fulhamish, external

Tottenham have made an offer for Tosin Adarabioyo, as they try to beat Manchester United in the race for the Fulham defender. (Teamtalk), external

Newcastle United are also looking into the possibility of signing 26-year-old Adarabioyo, who is out of contract this summer. (Telegraph - subscription required), external

Want more transfer news? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

We asked for your views on West Ham's defeat to Fulham on Sunday.

Here are some of your answers:

West Ham fans

Ian: Thought we started OK and Antonio should score from six yards. They score from a mistake and then sat back. As the game progressed we looked tired and short of ideas. Our lack of depth in the squad is really showing. Earthy looked good on his debut and hope the head injury isn’t serious. Saw him at Borehamwood pre-season and looks like a good prospect.

Josh: A really disappointing loss. It was an opportunity to win but the team looked tired and leggy after so many Thursday - Sunday weeks. We’ve played more games than Fulham this season and it showed. The lack of squad depth compared to the teams around us also showed. Need to strengthen significantly this summer if we are to continue to move forward.

Martin: No energy, no game plan, no fight. Spent most of our possession on the left wing playing tippy-tappy football before Paqueta gave the ball away. Defence was poor. Antonio was our only chance of a goal and he was hugging the left touchline all second half, very strange.

Fulham fans

Adam: Fulham were unlucky against Newcastle but we showed our quality against a good West Ham team. All fans are happy about Pereira and his double as he has been missing the art of scoring until now. We played well and we hope we can keep it up to the end of the season. Come on Fulham.

Bob: First of all my very best to George Earthy for a good recovery. It's always good to beat your London rivals. We need to be more clinical in front of goal and put more of our chances away. Still, we were strong and snuffed out any danger from West Ham. All but safe now so well done lads.

Keir: Story of our season … if we score first we don’t get beaten. Fair play to the boys for keeping up the tempo for the full 90 minutes .

Jason Mohammad introduces highlights and analysis from Sunday's three Premier League fixtures.

If you missed Match of the Day 2, you can catch up on the action on BBC iPlayer.

Listen back to Sunday's BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Sports Extra match commentary in full:

Liverpool v Crystal Palace

West Ham United v Fulham

Arsenal v Aston Villa

Image source, Getty Images

Fulham had not won at West Ham in the Premier League for 21 years, losing their last 12 last top-division meetings against the Hammers on the road.

And after a shaky start that saw Vladimir Coufal and Michail Antonio miss clear-cut chances in the opening few minutes, it looked likely that streak would extend to 13.

But Fulham were rewarded for pouncing on West Ham mistakes and producing blistering counter-attacks.

Andreas Pereira and Alex Iwobi were the pair at the centre of it all, linking up for both goals.

Pereira has been a key play-maker for the Cottagers this season, registering seven assists in the league, but today he was the one with the clinical edge to put Fulham ahead.

The season seemed to be petering out for Marco Silva's side but the win at London Stadium might just give Fulham belief they're back in contention for that final European spot.