Reds suffer more misery

Liverpool suffered more misery after a stormy 90 minutes at Craven Cottage brought their fifth defeat in 11 Premier League games, leaving their hopes of winning a first English championship in 20 years looking slim.

The Anfield club succumbed 3-1 to Fulham and finished with nine men after Jamie Carragher and Philipp Degen were sent off by referee Lee Mason, two of a record eight dismissals in one day in the Premier League. Liverpool will end the weekend in sixth place should Manchester City take even a point from today's fixture against Birmingham and are nine points behind league leaders Chelsea, who thrashed Bolton 4-0 away from home.
 
Fulham were leading 2-1, their goals scored by Bobby Zamora and Erik Nevland, Fernando Torres striking for Liverpool, when Degen and Carragher were shown red cards in quick succession. Degen was sent off for what Mason deemed to be a reckless challenge on Clint Dempsey and Carragher for denying Zamora a clear scoring opportunity. Carragher protested furiously, claiming he won the ball. Just 145 seconds elapsed between the red cards and Fulham using their numerical advantage to score again, via Dempsey. It was a good day for the rest of the Big Four, who all won. The north London derby was settled by two goals in 11 seconds as Arsenal beat Tottenham 3-0, while Manchester United brushed aside Blackburn 2-0.
 
Carragher and Degen will now be suspended, increasing Liverpool's personnel problems. They were without Glen Johnson and Steven Gerrard yesterday because of injury and are unlikely to have Gerrard back for their next league match, at home to Birmingham. Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager, said he would appeal against both cards. "They were difficult to take. The first one was a yellow card. The second one you can clearly see that Carragher was kicking the ball," he said. "It's hard to take the defeat, especially when we were in control of the game. We worked hard with nine players but it was very difficult."
 
Benitez could be without Torres and Gerrard for Wednesday's crucial Champions League clash against Lyons. The Liverpool boss said he would "have to see how Gerrard progresses" with his troublesome groin injury, while Torres is still not fully fit. Benitez, however, dismissed talk of being under pressure. "We have confidence but we have to take our chances and not make mistakes like today," he said.
 
Liverpool's rapidly fading hopes of ending their 20-year wait to become English champions have been hit hard by a disastrous start to a season fast turning into a list of gloomy statistics
* Yesterday's 3-1 loss at Fulham was their fifth consecutive away defeat in all competitions. Liverpool have lost five Premier League games this season compared with just two in the whole of 2008-09
* They have kept only three clean sheets in the league this season compared with six after 11 games last year. They have conceded 16 league goals already during this campaign compared with just eight at the same stage last year
* Their 18 league points is eight fewer than the 26 they had after 11 matches last season
* Philipp Degen and Jamie Carragher's dismissals at Craven Cottage made it three sendings-off in their past two league matches, following midfielder Javier Mascherano's red card against Manchester United, the only match they have won from their past seven league and cup games
* And the good news? If manager Rafa Benitez is looking for a crumb of comfort, Liverpool have lost five of their first 11 league games once before and still gone on to win the title... way back in 1905-06.
 

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