FULHAM 2-2 LIVERPOOL

Fulham re-entered the Premier League with a bang, holding title contenders Liverpool to a 2-2 draw at the Cottage.

An Aleksandar Mitrović double twice put us ahead, but goals from Darwin Nunez and Mo Salah meant we could only take a point in the end.

Marco Silva named the same team that grabbed a 1-1 draw against Villarreal in our final pre-season game, but with new recruits Bernd Leno and Shane Duffy featuring on the bench.

João Palhinha and Andreas Pereira were set for their Fulham league debuts and for the first time since joining us, Manor Solomon was also an option for the boss, starting as a substitute.

For Liverpool, goalkeeper Alisson Becker returned after a stint out with injury. Salah, Luis Diaz and Roberto Firmino formed the front three, with new signing Nunez on the bench. He sat alongside Fabio Carvalho, who returned to the Cottage for the first time since securing promotion with us.

We made a bright start, with Mitro gathering the ball high up the pitch after Trent Alexander-Arnold’s attempted clearance was blocked. Our front man brought the ball down excellently, but his low effort rolled wide of the far post.

It was all Fulham in the early stages, and the crowd were right behind the boys. Antonee Robinson burst down the left side before having his cross sent out for a corner. The resulting delivery was headed clear.

Liverpool thought they had the lead 15 minutes in, when Diaz curled a right-footed shot into the far corner. Thankfully, the flag was raised, with Andy Robertson shown to be offside earlier in the move.

Kenny Tete was the first to go into the book, sliding in late and catching Dias after he’d released the ball.

We were looking dangerous going forward. Andreas whipped a brilliant free-kick into the area, which was cleared before Mitro had an effort on goal.

The Fulham attacks kept coming. Harrison Reed’s attempt from the edge of the box was well blocked before Neeskens Kebano darted down the right and crossed towards Mitro. He couldn’t quite reach it and the ball rolled out for a throw.

We took a deserved lead just past the half-hour mark. Kebano found the overlapping Tete, whose floated cross towards the back stick was superbly headed home by Mitro. The forward towered over Alexander-Arnold to get to the ball first.

Liverpool reacted well as they searched for a leveller. The full-backs combined, with Alexander-Arnold finding Robertson with a diagonal ball, before the Scot fired a low shot wide.

A couple of minutes later, Diaz’ powerful strike from the left rattled the post after taking a small nick off Tete.

After an excellent opening 45 minutes, we went in at the break ahead.

Jürgen Klopp made a couple of changes just minutes after the break, with Nunez replacing Firmino up top and ex-Fulham man Harvey Elliott coming on for Thiago, who limped off holding his hamstring.

We created a great opportunity on 56 minutes. Bobby De Cordova-Reid pounced on an Elliott error before charging towards the Liverpool goal. He found Andreas, whose attempted ball across goal was well blocked.

Then, just moments later, Tim Ream did brilliantly to beat Nunez to the ball before feeding Kebano, whose right-footed strike crashed against the far post before bouncing back out. So close to building a two-goal cushion.

Up the other end, a Tosin error very nearly led to an equaliser for Liverpool. Nunez tried to square the ball to Salah or Diaz, but in the end, his effort found neither of them and was cleared.

The away side were applying pressure and soon found an equaliser just after the hour mark. Salah broke away down the right and crossed to Nunez, who cleverly flicked the ball over Marek Rodák.

Marco opted for a change after the goal, with Manor Solomon introduced in place of Kebano.

Nunez almost added a second minutes later, using his strength to ward off Tosin before having his low shot cleared off the line by Ream.

Just as Liverpool were beginning to dominate, Mitro powered forward towards the Hammersmith End and won a penalty after getting tripped by Virgil van Dijk. Our Serbian bagsman made no mistake, slotting his spot kick into the bottom right corner.

We weren’t able to enjoy the lead for long, with Liverpool getting themselves level for the second time with around 10 minutes remaining. Nunez brought down an Alexander-Arnold ball before laying it off to Salah, who prodded home.

Jordan Henderson gave us a late scare, as his long-range hit rifled off the crossbar with just a few minutes remaining.

A fantastic performance on our return to the top flight and our first point already on the board.