Liverpool 2, Fulham 0

Nov 10 2007 By Tony Barrett

A GOAL from Fernando Torres and a Steven Gerrard penalty were enough to give Liverpool a much needed home win against struggling Fulham at Anfield.

Fulham were fastest out of the blocks with David Healy firing in a shot from the edge of the box which Pepe Reina saved comfortably after just ten seconds.

From that point on it was virtually all Liverpool though with the Reds having plenty of possession. The only problem was, for the amount of ball they had the Reds were creating comparatively little.

Sami Hyypia and Steven Gerrard both had half chances which came to nothing but far too often the Reds failed to cause Fulham’s well marshalled defence too many problems.

The London side could even have taken a shock lead when Danny Murphy caught a volley perfectly on the edge of the box and Reina did well to plunge to his left and make a flying save.

As the half wore on Liverpool ’s dominance grew but the opening goal which they needed so badly was proving elusive.

The closest they came was when Fabio Aurelio picked out Peter Crouch with a pinpoint free kick and the beanpole striker sent a header hurtling towards goal only to see the ball rebound off the crossbar.

With the gap between Liverpool and the league leaders standing at six points before the game a win was vital for the Reds if they were to get themselves into the ranks of genuine title challengers.

So it was no surprise to see them start the second half with much more vigour and they were unlucky not to take the lead when Fulham keeper Antti Niemi failed to hold an Aurelio free kick and Benayoun fired the rebound over from close range.

But with Fulham looking to hold out Rafa Benitez decided to make a change with Ryan Babel coming on for the hugely disappointing John Arne Riise.

The substitution almost paid immediate dividends when Babel set Benayoun up for a shot which Niemi did well to parry.

At this stage it was all Liverpool with Fulham not even looking to mount an attack of any note.

Voronin was next to try his luck when he latched onto a delicate Benayoun through ball but his shot whistled wide of Niemi’s far post.

Benitez was in no mood to sit idly by and wait for a goal to come however and he made a second substitution after 69 minutes when Fernando Torres came on for Andriy Voronin.

But even the introduction of the Spanish striker failed to do the trick as Liverpool continued to labour against their limited opponents.

Crouch did have the ball in the net with 78 minutes gone but the linesman rightly signalled for offside and his effort was ruled out.

Just as it looked like it would not be Liverpool ’s day Torres popped up with a typically opportunist effort with just nine minutes remaining.

Taking control of a long clearance by Reina, Torres cut inside his man before finding the bottom corner of Niemi’s goal.

Almost immediately Liverpool were awarded a penalty when Crouch was tripped in the box following good approach play by Ryan Babel.

Gerrard took on the responsibility from the spot and duly despatched his kick to give Liverpool a two nil lead.

LIVERPOOL: Reina, Arbeloa, Hyypia, Carragher, Aurelio, Benayoun, Gerrard, Mascherano (Lucas, 80), Riise ( Babel , 62), Crouch, Voronin (Torres, 69).

FULHAM: Niemi, Baird, Bocanegra, Stefanovic, Hughes, Davies, Murphy, Davis, Dempsey (Kamara, 68), Kuqi, Healy (Bouazza, 58).

Referee: Steve Tanner.