By Lori Ewing
LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) -Liverpool’s Diogo Jota bagged a last-gasp equaliser to snatch a 2-2 draw for the 10-man Premier League leaders on Saturday, with Arne Slot’s Reds twice roaring back from a goal down at Anfield.
Liverpool remain top of the table on 36 points, five ahead of Chelsea, who host Brentford on Sunday, and six in front of Arsenal, who were held to a 0-0 home draw by Everton and have played a game more. Fulham are ninth on 24 points.
Andreas Pereira put Fulham ahead in the 11th minute with an acrobatic volley from Antonee Robinson’s cross which bounced off Liverpool full back Andy Robertson’s thigh and into the net past goalkeeper Alisson.
It was a tough afternoon for Robertson, who was sent off six minutes later for a lunging tackle on Harry Wilson that denied a goalscoring opportunity.
Cody Gakpo levelled two minutes after the break with a diving header from Mohamed Salah’s sumptuous cross but Rodrigo Muniz put Fulham in front again in the 76th when he bundled home Robinson’s cross while crashing into Alisson.
Liverpool continued to press and Jota, in his first game since being injured against Chelsea in October, slotted past Bernd Leno in the 86th as Liverpool avoided what would have been only a second loss for Slot in 23 games across all competitions.
The Reds had several chances to net a winner in the dying minutes in front of an ear-splitting Anfield crowd, including a shot from Harvey Elliott that flew marginally wide and another from Luis Diaz that sailed just over the bar.
There were also seven yellow cards shown in the game, a couple of which had the normally composed Slot waving his arms in anger. The Anfield faithful booed the officials at the end.
“I don’t think I could’ve asked for more from my players, especially after going down to 10 men,” Slot said. “I couldn’t have asked for more in terms of performance and results.
“At the start of the game, you always want to start intense. After 30 seconds, one of ours (Robertson) was on the floor and needed treatment for a while so we couldn’t get the intensity.”
It was Liverpool’s first league game in 10 days after Storm Darragh caused the postponement of the last-ever Merseyside league derby at Everton and the Reds’ second successive league draw after a 3-3 result at Newcastle United.
“A great comeback is very positive,” Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk said. “It’s disappointing having 10 men but we showed fight, kept trying to create chances. Could have been more but we take the point and move on.”
Fulham manager Marco Silva added: “When you are leading twice and, of course, Liverpool after 17 minutes playing with 10 men, we feel we should have won the game.
“When you come here to Anfield to play a game and to match them and try to win the game, that is going to be an electric game. It’s a big emotional (feeling).”
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Clare Fallon and Ken Ferris)
