Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has cast doubts over a late surge into the Champions League places despite stretching their unbeaten run to five matches.
Mohamed Salah's first-half penalty was enough for the Reds to claim 15 points from as many available as they inflicted another disappointing night on Merseyside for former Everton manager Marco Silva. The visit of the Cottagers saw less drama than what transpired when their London rivals Tottenham Hotspur visited Anfield.
Fulham missed a number of opportunities throughout the 90 minutes with former Spurs forward Carlos Vinicius forcing a superb save from Alisson Becker before Bobby Decordova-Reid steered over deep into stoppage time to earn a second point of the season against Liverpool.
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However, Jurgen Klopp's side held on as they cut the gap to Manchester United, in fourth, to just four points ahead of their visit to the AMEX Stadium on Thursday where they lock-horns with Brighton and Hove Albion.
Despite being within touching distance of a late surge into the top four, Henderson has allayed hopes of gazumping Erik ten Hag's side but hopes it can be a springboard to a positive start to next season.
"I doubt it. I think if you look at who is ahead of us, they are very good and quite far ahead," he said.
"I think we're just thinking about us and our performance levels. Hopefully we can be a lot more consistent when we come back after the summer.
"It's always difficult to win games in the Premier League," he added. "Five on the spin is very good. We've shown more consistency. We need to continue that until the end of the season and carry it on into next season too. A clean sheet is something we've been looking for."
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