Sunday, December 04, 2011

Reds Aim To Equal Record

Liverpool head to Fulham on Monday knowing a win would equal a club record of away successes.

In all competitions it is six victories in succession away from home - a win at Craven Cottage will equal the club record of seven set between December 1981 - February 1982 and again in January - March 1988.

Head to Head (league only):

At Fulham: Liverpool 10 wins, Fulham 8 wins, 6 draws.

Overall: Liverpool 27 wins, Fulham 8 wins, 13 draws.

Last season the Reds achieved a league 'double' over Fulham. They won 1-0 at Anfield back in January (John Pantsil OG) but saved their best for the return at Craven Cottage in May winning 5-2. It was Liverpool's biggest ever win at Fulham.

In that game Maxi scored his second hat-trick in 16 days with Dirk Kuyt and Luis Suarez also finding the net. Moussa Dembele and Steve Sidwell scored for the Londoners.

Overall in the Barclays Premier League Liverpool have won six and lost four at Fulham, while home and away have won 12 and drawn four of the 20 meetings.

Liverpool's biggest win over Fulham in the league came in November 1955 when they won 7-0 at Anfield.

There has not been a draw between the teams at Fulham in the Premier League.

Liverpool's biggest loss at Craven Cottage came in both October 2009 and April 1956 - losing 3-1.

Prior to Maxi last season the only Liverpool player to score a hat-trick against Fulham was Billy Liddell in September 1954 at Anfield.

The Reds have kept six clean sheets in the last eight games with Fulham.

Liverpool are looking to record back to back league wins at Fulham for only the third time in their history.

Steven Gerrard scored his first Liverpool goal 12 years ago on December 5 in a 4-1 home win over Sheffield Wednesday.

Liverpool is unbeaten in the last eight league games (four wins, four draws) - their best run for two-and-a-half years.

They have won their last three away games in the league. The last time they won four in a row was in May 2009 when they won the last five of that campaign.

In those last three away victories they have conceded just one goal in total.

The Reds have won four on the road in the top flight this season - more than any team outside of the top three going into this weekend's fixtures.

Liverpool has won more points away from home (12) than they have at Anfield (11) this season.

Luis Suarez is searching for his first league goal in the Premier League for two months. His last came in the win at Everton in a 2-0 win.

He is Liverpool's leading scorer in the league with four goals. Next highest is own goals with three.

Both of Andy Carroll's league goals this season have come away from home (Everton and West Brom).

Jose Enrique is the only outfield player to have appeared in every minute of the Reds' 13 league games this season.

Jamie Carragher was sent off on this ground two years ago (along with Philipp Degen). All three of Carra's dismissals in a Liverpool shirt have come in London.

Dirk Kuyt's last league goal for Liverpool came on this ground last May. His next goal will be his 50th in the English top flight.

Maxi has scored 10 goals in his last nine starts in all competitions.

No team has scored more than once against Liverpool in the last eight league games and none in the last 11 in league and cup.

The Reds have kept three clean sheets in the last five games - against West Brom and Swansea in the league and Chelsea in the Carling Cup.

Liverpool is unbeaten in the last 11 games since losing at Tottenham in the league 11 weeks ago.

This is the Cottagers' 28th game of the season already - half of them coming in cup games.

The only Fulham player to score a hat-trick against Liverpool is Roy Dwight, who did so in 1956.

Fulham have scored only five goals in the last eight meetings home and away and six in the last 10, with five coming in the last two Craven Cottage clashes.

They have lost their last two games at home this season, beaten 3-1 by both Everton and Tottenham.

They last lost three in a row in the Barclays Premier League in front of their home fans in April 2002 when Liverpool and Tottenham were amongst the teams to win in that sequence.

Fulham have won just once at home in the league - beating QPR 6-0. They have drawn with Aston Villa, Blackburn and Manchester City. In that game with City they were 2-0 down early in the second half.

Of their 11 league goals scored at home this season six have come in one game.

That 6-0 win over QPR was their first win of the campaign and came in their seventh league game.

In that thrashing of QPR Andrew Johnson became the first Fulham player to ever score a Premier League hat-trick.

They have won just one of the last six games in the league and none of the last three since winning 2-0 at Wigan at the end of October.

The last two goals scored by Fulham in the league have been own goals - Younes Kaboul of Spurs and Arsenal's Thomas Vermaelen.

They have won just eight of the 48 league meetings with Liverpool.

Martin Jol is Fulham's 26th post-war manager and their seventh since 2000.

He has never beaten Liverpool as a manager in seven games - three draws and four defeats - all with Tottenham, taking three points out of 18.

There has only been one goalless draw between the teams in a league game at the Cottage - in 1962-63.

Clint Dempsey has now scored a record 38 Premier League goals for Fulham. His first goal came against the Reds in May 2007 after coming on as a substitute.

Mark Schwarzer has kept five clean sheets in the Premier League this season - only Michel Vorm (Swansea) has kept more.

Leading scorers (league in brackets):

Liverpool: Suarez 7 (4), Carroll 3 (2), Maxi 3 (1), Adam 2 (2), Bellamy 2 (1), Gerrard 1 (1), Henderson 1 (1), Johnson 1 (1), Kelly 1 (0), Kuyt 1 (0), Skrtel 1 (1), own goals 3 (3).

Fulham: Johnson 11 (3), Dempsey 5 (3), Zamora 5 (3), Murphy 4 (1), Duff 3 (0), Sidwell 2 (0), Dembele 1 (1), Briggs 1 (0), Hughes 1 (0), Ruiz 1 (1), own goals 3 (3).

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