Liverpool Seek First League Win Under Iraola Against Fulham

Anfield gets its latest look at the Andoni Iraola project on Saturday, with Liverpool still chasing a first Premier League win of the season under their new head coach when Fulham arrive on Merseyside.

The performances have been lively. The numbers in attack, even better. Liverpool have scored at least twice in every league outing so far, and they walk into the weekend buoyed by a Champions League victory over Atletico Madrid that hinted at a side beginning to click.

Now they need points to match the promise.

Iraola wary of winless but dangerous Fulham

Fulham travel north without a point on the board, but their form hardly fits the picture of a side in crisis. All three of their league defeats have come by a single goal, each game tight, each one on a knife edge.

Iraola has clearly taken note. His assessment of Saturday’s visitors was respectful and pointed: Fulham, he said, “have been so good” in every league match this season, a reminder to anyone expecting a routine afternoon that the margins at this level remain thin.

Liverpool may be the side with the momentum, but Fulham have been close enough in every contest to believe that one break, one chance taken, can flip their narrative.

Team news: attacking puzzle for Iraola

Liverpool’s selection picture is busy, and not in a good way.

Conor Bradley, Giovanni Leoni, Hugo Ekitike, Joe Gomez and Federico Chiesa are all still out, stripping depth from both ends of the pitch. Cody Gakpo is a doubt with an adductor issue, a concern for a side already juggling its forward options.

There was a scare in midweek when Bradley Barcola and Milos Kerkez both needed treatment for cramp during the win over Atletico Madrid. The club do not believe there is anything more serious behind those problems, but their workloads will be watched closely.

If neither Gakpo nor Barcola makes it, Victor Munoz is ready. The winger is in line to start on the flank, likely keeping his place alongside Florian Wirtz and Rio Ngumoha as the creative band behind Alexander Isak.

Isak’s task is simple and sharp: score, and he will already move beyond his league tally from the whole of last season. That alone tells you how quickly he has started under Iraola, and how central he has become to Liverpool’s new attacking shape.

Predicted Liverpool XI

Iraola is expected to stick with his preferred 4-2-3-1, the framework that has underpinned Liverpool’s early-season goal rush:

Alisson; Araujo, Jacquet, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Mac Allister, Szoboszlai; Munoz, Wirtz, Ngumoha; Isak.

Virgil van Dijk anchors a defence still searching for a clean sheet to match the fluency up front, while Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai form the double pivot charged with setting the tempo and feeding that aggressive front four.

If the balance holds, Liverpool will create chances. The question is whether they can finally turn their home draws into a first league win of the Iraola era.

Kick-off and TV details

The game kicks off at 15:00 on Saturday, 12 September 2026 at Anfield.

As it falls within the traditional Saturday 3pm blackout, the match will not be shown live on television in the UK.

Liverpool’s goals are flowing, Fulham are better than their record suggests, and both sides are desperate to reshape their early-season story. One of them has to blink.