Liverpool Seek First League Win Under Iraola Against Fulham
Anfield gets another crack at liftoff on Saturday. The Champions League roar is still echoing around the place, but Andoni Iraola is still waiting for something more basic in the Premier League: a first home win.
Liverpool have been entertaining, chaotic and relentless in flashes. What they have not been, yet, is ruthless enough to turn those home draws into three points. Fulham arrive knowing that if you give this Liverpool side a sniff, they usually take at least two bites.
Iraola’s team have scored a minimum of two goals in every league outing so far. That attacking edge carried into midweek, when they saw off Atletico Madrid in Europe to inject early-season belief into the stands and the dressing room. The platform is there. Now it has to translate into the domestic grind.
Iraola wary of winless but dangerous Fulham
Fulham’s league table makes grim reading, but their performances have not. They have lost all three of their Premier League matches by a single goal, each time lingering within touching distance.
Iraola did not bother with any mind games when asked about Marco Silva’s side. He called Fulham “so good” in each of those league games, a pointed reminder that this is not a soft landing for a Liverpool side still bedding in under a new manager.
Fulham will come to Anfield wounded and awkward, the type of opponent that often turns a comfortable afternoon into a nervous one. Liverpool know that story too well from previous seasons.
Selection headaches and thin margins
The treatment room has not been kind. Conor Bradley, Giovanni Leoni, Hugo Ekitike, Joe Gomez and Federico Chiesa are all still out of the picture. Cody Gakpo is a doubt with an adductor issue, a concern given his ability to link midfield and attack.
There was a scare in midweek when Bradley Barcola and Milos Kerkez both needed attention for cramp against Atletico Madrid. The relief inside the camp is that neither problem appears serious, but their minutes will still be under scrutiny before Iraola locks in his XI.
If Gakpo and Barcola do not make it, Victor Munoz is ready. The winger is primed to step in on the flank, joining Florian Wirtz and Rio Ngumoha in the band of three charged with feeding Alexander Isak.
That attacking line has the feel of a work in progress, but Isak’s numbers are already nudging the narrative. One more goal on Saturday and he will surpass his tally for the whole of last season. It would be an early marker, a sign that Liverpool finally have a centre-forward ready to carry the weight of Anfield’s expectations across a full campaign.
How Liverpool could line up
Iraola is expected to stick with his 4-2-3-1 shape, a system that has given Liverpool a sharper edge between the lines and more bodies around the box.
Liverpool possible starting XI (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Araujo, Jacquet, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Mac Allister, Szoboszlai; Munoz, Wirtz, Ngumoha; Isak.
Virgil van Dijk anchors a back line that is still finding its rhythm, shielded by Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai. If that central pairing can control the tempo, Liverpool’s attacking quartet will get the platform they need to swarm Fulham’s back four.
Kick-off and TV details
The game kicks off at 15:00 on Saturday, 12 September 2026, right in the heart of the traditional Saturday slot. That also means the usual frustration for many fans: the match falls inside the UK’s 3pm broadcast blackout and will not be shown live on television.
For Liverpool, the cameras are secondary. Anfield will see it all up close. Iraola has his first Champions League win in the bank. Now comes the real question of his early reign: can this team turn promise and goals into the kind of routine home victories that define a title-chasing season?
