Arne Slot praises Liverpool's character after draw with Fulham

Andreas Pereira gave Fulham the lead after 11 minutes and the visitors were in a strong position to win at Anfield when Robertson was sent off six minutes later.

The Scotland captain's poor first touch saw Harry Wilson latch onto the ball and then tripped up, being denied a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Marco Silva's men could not make their first-half dominance count as they failed to double their lead.

This invited Liverpool back into the match and a home goal felt inevitable, coming a mere two minutes after the break through Cody Gakpo.

Fulham managed to weather the Anfield storm as the Reds shot towards the Kop in the second half and took the lead for a second time in the 76th minute when Rodrigo Muniz scored from close range.

Liverpool equalised for a second time thanks to a fine Diogo Jota goal four minutes from time.

For a lot of the second half it did not look like Slot's side were at a man disadvantage but it ultimately cost them a comeback victory.

They remain five points clear of Chelsea in second and head coach Slot was very pleased with his players and said Robertson's mistake and sending off came from staying on after sustaining an injury in the opening minutes.

"The character the team showed, that is what Robbo showed," Slot said after the 2-2 draw. "If you get a kick like this, two studs on a knee, that can hurt for a few minutes. If you keep running and it gets better and better, that is what we were hoping for.

"I only had one defender on the bench, who is not a left full-back, so you are hoping he was managing to come through it and did quite well.

"But the moment I noticed he wasn't completely himself was the one time they put the ball in behind and he started running and was just able to head back to Ali (Alisson Becker).

"I felt 'Hmm, OK, let's see how this continues' and I think it was quite soon afterwards he conceded the red card.

"Nothing to blame him, the character showed in wanting to continue because he got quite a hard knock with two studs. Unfortunately, it led to a deserved red card."

Slot added: "I think it is exactly the opposite from Girona (the midweek Champions League win) where I was pleased but not the performance.

"Here I am very happy about the performance, I couldn't have asked for more, but of course not with the result because if you drop points in a home game against Fulham that is definitely not what you expect and what you want.

"But yeah, being a goal down twice, it's all going against you, except for one thing, which is our players and our fans, I thought we were outstanding."

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