Fulham beaten by Gerrard’s late penalty
Fulham 2 Liverpool 3
Fulham’s survival bid was dealt a huge blow by a last-minute Steven Gerrard penalty.
A win would have lifted them off the bottom of the Premier League – and they were twice gifted the lead by defensive aberrations.
They were ahead after Kolo Toure’s ninth-minute own goal, and after Daniel Sturridge had levelled for Liverpool, Kieran Richardson pounced to score following an error by Martin Skrtel.
But Philippe Coutinho equalised and Gerrard scored from the spot after Sascha Riether had brought down Sturridge.
Rene Meulensteen’s side, buoyed by Sunday’s draw at Manchester United, had Liverpool on the back foot straightaway and Simon Mignolet saved Ryan Tunnicliffe’s low shot in the opening minute.
Fulham kept up the early pressure and Toure had to react quickly to prevent Darren Bent getting to Richardson’s left-wing cross.
But the next time Richardson crossed from the left Toure contrived to slice the ball into his own net from close range.
On-loan Tottenham midfielder Lewis Holtby almost doubled the lead with a 20-yard effort that fizzed just wide.
And Bent headed over from seven yards out after being found by another Richardson cross.
Having struggled for most of the first half, Liverpool levelled out of nothing four minutes before the interval.
Gerrard carved open the Fulham defence with a perfect through-ball and Sturridge fired in off the far post.
Liverpool made a strong start to the second half and Luis Suarez hit the post from the edge of the penalty area before another defensive mishap enabled Fulham to regain the lead against the run of play.
Skrtel, off-balance but under no serious pressure, tried awkwardly to clear Riether’s right-wing cross but succeeded only in diverting the ball into the path of Richardson, who had the simple task of blasting past Mignolet.
Suddenly the Whites were within sight of a potentially crucial victory in their fight to stay up.
But they were pegged back again when Coutinho cut across the edge of the box and found the net via a deflection off the unfortunate Johnny Heitinga.
Liverpool continued to press and with 15 minutes remaining Fulham lost Maarten Stekelenberg after the goalkeeper went off following an accidental boot in the face from Suarez as he bravely dived at the striker’s feet.
He was replaced by stand-in keeper David Stockdale, who saw a powerful strike from Coutinho flash just wide before Gerrrard confidently hit the corner of the net after Riether’s needless and costly foul.
Fulham: Stekelenburg (Stockdale 75); Riether, Heitinga, Burn, Riise; Tunnicliffe, Sidwell, Kvist, Richardson (Kacaniklic 71); Holtby; Bent.
Subs not used: Hangeland, Kasami, Duff, Cole, Parker.
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