Much Rides on Liverpool’s Match with Fulham | OneFootball

While Liverpool’s Champions League opponents Paris Saint-Germain will have the opportunity to rest up this weekend after having their Ligue 1 clash with Lens moved, Arne Slot’s side face a home clash with Fulham with the pressure firmly on the Dutch boss and his players.

Three defeats on the spin – against Brighton before the international break, a 4-0 thumping by Manchester City in the FA Cup, and a 2-0 defeat to PSG in Paris in the first leg of their Champions League quarter final – makes Saturday’s clash all the more important.

Clinging to Aspirations

The Reds will still harbor hopes of securing Champions League qualification by winning the tournament, of course. Stranger things have happened at Anfield, but mounting a comeback against this dominant Paris side seems unlikely to say the least.

Slot spoke ahead of Liverpool’s upcoming Premier League bout of the hope that his players will be motivated by their quarter-final defeat, however, and how the desire to be involved in more of these huge clashes next season can spur them on.

“We faced the champions of Europe and we experienced that we were not on the level we should have been,” Slot said.

“The good thing is we have four or five days to show we can be much more competitive. It also tells us we want to keep improving and playing at that level next season. I think if you experience that two days ago, you want to be involved next season to show we can do even better. Therefore, we have to perform in the league as well.”

A Glimpse of Hope…

Confirmation that England will be guaranteed five Champions League qualification spots through the Premier League will come as a positive for Liverpool and their supporters. They sit in fifth spot going into the weekend’s action, but only a point ahead of Chelsea in sixth and three in front of Brentford and Everton in seventh and eighth respectively.

But facing a competitive Fulham side in a crucial league clash, in between two Champions League quarter-final matches against PSG, is one that will not provide fans with much hope, however.

Slot has highlighted his team’s biggest issue this season as the inability to deal with playing every three days with a small squad of players, not helped by the terrible injury issues he has had to deal with.

That situation is easing somewhat, though, with Slot declaring the current injury list as being “the best it has been this season”. Club record signing Alexander Isak returned to action off the bench against PSG for the first time since breaking his leg against Tottenham in December.

“That Alex is available for us again is vital of course because I’ve said many times that it has been hard for us to convert chances into goals and he’s been a goalscorer his whole life,” Slot said.

“Hopefully we can progress his minutes and he can grow to his form as soon as possible. The last time it took him a while but we are hoping after the great rehab period he had with the people here that we can bring him faster to the level we want him to be.”

Slot on the Line

There could be more at stake than just Liverpool’s Champions League qualification hopes this weekend, however. With familiar problems continuing to plague Slot’s side and few, if any, signs of progress, it is little wonder that the manager has come under increasing pressure as the season has gone on.

With Fulham up first, followed by the second leg against PSG and then a Merseyside derby against Everton next weekend, this could well prove to be the week that makes or breaks Slot’s spell as Liverpool boss.