Some goals are simply scored. Others tear through the fabric of a football match and leave everyone present wondering what on earth they just witnessed. Harrison Reed's 97th-minute thunderbolt at Craven Cottage belonged firmly to the latter category.
Three minutes earlier, Liverpool believed they had stolen all three points. Cody Gakpo, bundling the ball home at the far post, ripped off his shirt and sprinted towards the delirious away supporters. A booking didn't matter. The win was all that mattered. The gap to the top four was all that mattered.
Then came Reed.
The 29-year-old had entered the fray just seven minutes prior, a workmanlike substitute brought on to help see out a draw that, at that point, felt satisfactory for Marco Silva's side. He received the ball 25 yards from goal, shaped his body, and unleashed something approaching the sublime: a swerving, dipping strike that flew into the top corner with Alisson Becker rooted to the spot.
It was Reed's first Premier League goal since April 2023. He may never score a better one.
A match of maddening contradictions
Liverpool's afternoon by the Thames had felt laboured long before its chaotic conclusion. The absence of Hugo Ekitike, ruled out with a hamstring issue, robbed them of their leading scorer. Gakpo led the line but struggled to find space against a Fulham defence marshalled by the excellent Joachim Andersen.
Harry Wilson – still so fondly remembered on Merseyside despite the acrimonious nature of his departure – opened the scoring after seventeen minutes. The Welsh winger collected Raúl Jiménez's delicate flick and drove past Alisson with the kind of clinical finish that eluded Liverpool's forwards all afternoon. VAR checked for offside. Wilson remained level. The Cottage erupted.
The champions dominated possession thereafter without creating much of note. Gakpo headed against the woodwork but was clearly offside. Alexis Mac Allister struck the crossbar with a header. The breakthroughs they sought kept vanishing like morning mist.
When Florian Wirtz eventually equalised – another goal awarded after lengthy VAR deliberation – it came from a moment of individual brilliance rather than systematic dismantling. Conor Bradley's mazy run and squared pass found the German in space, and he made no mistake.
The cruellest twist
Four minutes into stoppage time, Gakpo's goal appeared to have rescued Liverpool. Jérémie Frimpong's cross evaded Andersen at the back post, and the Dutchman stabbed home from close range. Yellow card for excessive celebration. Substitution. The clock running down.
What happened next will haunt Arne Slot for weeks.
Kevin, the young Fulham midfielder, fed Reed on the edge of the area. Time seemed to slow as he let the ball bounce once, adjusted his stance, and struck it with his right foot. The trajectory was perfect: rising, curving, destined for the top corner from the moment it left his boot.
Alisson barely moved. What would have been the point?
"When we were losing, it was completely unfair for us," Marco Silva reflected afterwards. "We scored two brilliant goals and we had a great chance with Harry Wilson to score 2-1. Brilliant moment from Harrison Reed, it put more fairness in the game."
Where do Liverpool go from here?
Nine games unbeaten sounds respectable until you examine the fine print. During that run, Liverpool have drawn with Sunderland, Leeds (twice), and now Fulham. They've failed to score in the first half of thirteen of their twenty league matches this season. The creative spark that defined their title-winning campaign last season has dimmed.
Thursday brings a trip to Arsenal, the side six points clear at the summit and winning without always playing well. For Slot, it represents both an opportunity to make a statement and a potential moment of reckoning.
The Gakpo goal celebrations had seemed so joyous, so cathartic. Then Reed's strike reduced them to a footnote in a match Liverpool will want to forget.
Sometimes football is cruel. Sometimes it's poetic. At Craven Cottage, it was both.
