90min
·3 August 2022
90min
·3 August 2022
Fulham, winners of last season's Championship, host Premier League and Champions League runners-up Liverpool on Saturday lunchtime.
Marco Silva's Cottagers cantered back up to the top flight at the first time of asking last term, sending scoring records tumbling in the second tier. Liverpool came within two results of quadruple perfection but ended the campaign disappointed despite claiming both domestic cups.
Here's everything you need to know about the clash between two teams used to winning.
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Fulham's hero from their previous promotion push in 2020, Joe Bryan, is nursing a metacarpal fracture which is expected to keep him out of the opening weekend's fixture. Nathaniel Chalobah was forced off with an injury during a behind-closed-doors friendly at the end of July which leaves his involvement shrouded in doubt.
A knee injury to Harry Wilson on the eve of the season has robbed Fulham of the Championship's leading assist-provider last season - and denied the 25-year-old a reunion with his former club.
Given the lack of upheaval a short hop across London would cause, Silva may hand a debut to the former Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno a matter of days after his purchase.
Fulham Starting 11: Leno; Mbabu, Tosin, Ream, Robinson; Palhinha, Reed, Cairney; De Cordova-Reid, Mitrovic, KebanoBench: Rodak, Tete, Kongolo, Pereira, Onomah, Cavaleiro, Muniz
Diogo Jota may have inked a new long-term deal with Liverpool but is unlikely to feature in the short-term while lumbered with a thigh complaint. Injury has also ruled out Ibrahima Konate.
Backup keeper Caoimhin Kelleher is set to miss the opening weeks of warming the bench after sustaining an issue on international duty but the first-choice Alisson is expected to return following a watching brief for the Community Shield last weekend.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's weighty injury history is getting another chapter as the English midfielder sustained a "serious" hamstring problem during preseason.
When quizzed about Fulham's preparations following their final preseason friendly, Silva delivered a blunt and bleak assessment: "We, as a squad, are not ready.”
Few teams, whatever measures they take, have proven ready to face Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool in recent years; with reigning Premier League champions Manchester City the latest to come unstuck just last Saturday.
It's hardly an outrageous claim to suggest the second-tier champions may fare even worse this weekend.