Nunez’s debut with a goal?
Fulham get a very high visit on the 1st matchday of the new season in the Premier League. After all, the runners-up from Liverpool are dropping by!
The visitors will rely on the fact that the first matchday for their coach Jürgen Klopp has so far always been accompanied by the fact that the 55-year-old has not started the new season with a failure. The focus in the game will also be on Darwin Nunez in particular.
The Uruguayan was the visitors’ summer transfer kingmaker and last weekend the new signing proved his goal-scoring prowess with a strike against Manchester City in the FA Community Shield.
The Reds went on to win the British Super Cup 3-1 and the prediction for the upcoming clash between Fulham and Liverpool includes another goal from Uruguayan newcomer Nunez.
Fulham – Statistics & current form
The Cottagers are back in the top flight. The upcoming opponent is possibly not so wrong for the opener. Although the home side lost their last ten games in the Premier League the season before last, when they were last in the top flight, their last success was against the Reds in March 2021!
For the Portuguese coach Marco Silva it is also a return to the Premier League after almost 1000 days!
Only Kevin Keegan between 1997 and 2002 and 2005 and 2008 and Alan Pardew between 2007 and 2010 top Silva’s length of absence of 976 days in the history of the division.
Can Mitrovic also convince in the top flight this time?
The coach will mainly rely on Aleksandar Mitrovic in attack in the upcoming match. The Serbian claimed the Championship top scorer’s crown last season, scoring no fewer than 43 goals, the best haul in the history of the British lower house.
However, a question mark remains as to whether the striker will hold his own in the Premier League. The reason for the doubts were his performances in the top flight so far, which are significantly weaker compared to his performances in the Championship.
For example, the 27-year-old needs an average of only 117 minutes to score a goal in the lower house, while he has a value of 286 minutes in the Premier League!
At least in the preparation for the new season, however, the attacker has been extremely accurate again: In the three test matches against well-known opponents in the shape of Benfica or Villarreal, “Mitro” scored and even twice against Estoril.
However, Fabio Carvalho will no longer play for the Lilywhites. The team’s second-best assister and goal-scorer last season will still drop in for the upcoming game, however, as he will be kicking off for their upcoming opponents.
Fulham fear for passing machine named Wilson
Of course his departure was a weakening for the home side’s offence and now it is getting worse. A few days ago, for example, the particularly powerful offensive player Harry Wilson was injured and his participation is in serious danger.
With ten goals, Wilson shared second place with Carvalho in the internal scoring charts, but he is even more valuable as a passer. He set up no less than 19 of his teammates’ goals in the last season of promotion in the British lower house – a league-wide best!
With all of the above in mind, and with an extremely strong defence on the line, betting on a clean sheet for the visitors in the Fulham-Liverpool clash is a good idea.
Predicted Fulham line-up:
Rodak – Adarabioyo – Mbabu – Pereira – Kebano – Palhinha – Ream – Reed – Reid – Robinson – Mitrovic
Last Fulham games:
Club friendlies
31/07/2022 – Fulham 1 – 1 Villarreal FC
24/07/2022 – Estoril 1 – 3 Fulham
18/07/2022 – Benfica 5 – 1 Fulham
17/07/2022 – Nice 0 – 2 Fulham
Championship
07/05/2022 – Sheffield United 4 – 0 Fulham
Liverpool – Statistics & current form
The Reds finished last season with 19 rounds of matches without defeat, but the chase for the leader from Manchester was still in vain in the end, as City also presented themselves very consistently and saved their points advantage to the finish.
Now the next attack on the title will be made by the Mersey side. Of course, the aforementioned new striker Darwin Nunez is expected to help and fill the gap left by Sadio Mane’s departure to FC Bayern.
Last season’s top scorer in the Portuguese league came from Benfica and showed his class not only last weekend with his goal against Manchester City in the FA Community Shield, but also in the preparation.
In this he delivered a whopping four goals against German Cup winners RB Leipzig. This is even more impressive in view of the fact that he was only substituted after the tea break in that match!
Salah has unique opening series
Furthermore, the visitors naturally have another potent striker at their disposal in the form of Mo Salah. The Egyptian also has a weakness for matchday one: so far, Salah has scored on every first matchday since signing for the Reds!
No other player in the Premier League can boast such an opening day streak. With this in mind, odds on a goal by the two-time African Footballer of the Year in the clash between Fulham and Liverpool are also a good idea.
The additional prediction is also supported by the fact that he has already scored twice in his five opening games so far. His resulting tally of seven goals is surpassed only by British legends Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Alan Shearer.
Furthermore, the visitors can build on their strength away from home: Last season, only the champions from Manchester picked up more points away from home and the Reds lost only two of their 19 matches away from home (13-4-2).
Predicted Liverpool line-up:
Alisson – Robertson – Van Dijk – Matip – Alexander-Arnold – Henderson – Fabinho – Thiago – Nunez – Firmino – Salah
Last matches played by Liverpool:
Club friendlies
01/08/2022 – Liverpool FC 0 – 3 Strasbourg
Community Shield
30/07/2022 – Liverpool FC 3 – 1 Manchester City
Club Friendlies
28/07/2022 – RB Salzburg 1 – 0 Liverpool FC
21/07/2022 – RB Leipzig 0 – 5 Liverpool FC
15/07/2022 – Liverpool FC 2 – 0 Crystal Palace
Fulham – Liverpool Direct Comparison / H2H Balance
As described, the last meeting went in favour of the home side. The victory from March last year was even away from home from the Cottagers’ point of view! Also the duel in the first leg at that time was at least not lost for Fulham thanks to a 1:1.
Thanks to those two results, a previous run of six straight defeats ended for the home side.
Fulham – Liverpool Tip
For the clash between Fulham and Liverpool, the prediction includes a goal by Darwin Nunez for the visitors. The Uruguayan will be highly motivated for his debut in the Premier League and his form is already back on track.
Last weekend, for example, he only needed around half an hour of playing time to score a goal for the champions in the British Super Cup. However, the fact that Fulham are only playing against a promoted team also argues in favour of a goal from him.
With a comparatively thin squad, the Cottagers will probably only be fighting against relegation this season and from a playing point of view, they represent a fairly easy task for the Reds.
In addition, the home side are plagued with a number of absentees, including defensive ones such as the injured Nathaniel Chalobah, so there should be no shortage of scoring opportunities for the runners-up
