Mohamed Salah scored from the penalty spot to keep alive Liverpool’s slim hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League with a 1-0 win over Fulham at Anfield in the Premier League on Wednesday.
The win lifted Liverpool to 59 points, four behind fourth-placed Manchester United, who have two games in hand against the Merseysiders, while Fulham are 10th on 45 points.
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Fulham had the first decent chance of the game when Carlos Vinicius forced Alison Baker into a stinging save after turning back a corner for a corner in the 14th minute, but a moment of madness from Issa Diop saw them fall behind six minutes from time. pause
The Fulham centre-back was in no danger as he allowed a pass to run over his body, but Darwin Nunez made the most of his indecisiveness to push the ball away and the defender hit him, the referee immediately pointing to the spot. .
Salah stepped up and smashed the resulting spot kick straight down the middle to extend his scoring streak to eight in consecutive games at home.
This gave the home side some breathing space, but despite the likes of Salah, Nunez and Luis Diaz on the pitch, Liverpool struggled to get shots on target as keeper Bernd Leno repeatedly sped off his line to clear the danger.
Fulham had a great chance to equalize when Vinicius broke through in the 77th minute, but Alisson again denied him with a powerful right hand to deflect his close-range shot.
The visitors had one final chance in stoppage time when Daniel James picked out colleague Bobby D’Cordova-Reid, but Virgil van Dijk was there to press the striker and his effort went wide for Liverpool’s fifth straight Premier League win. .