Benayoun fires Reds to top spot

An injury-time Yossi Benayoun goal earned Liverpool a dramatic 1-0 win at Fulham.

Benitez's men return to summit thanks to injury-time strike

An injury-time Yossi Benayoun goal fired Liverpool back to the top of the Premier League following a dramatic 1-0 victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage. The Reds looked to be heading for a frustrating stalemate in West London following a host of wasted chances, but substitute Benayoun struck in the 92nd minute to secure a vital three-point haul. Rafa Benitez's team arrived in West London intent on continuing a recent run of scintillating domestic form, which has seen Manchester United and Aston Villa soundly beaten. But Benitez's team looked set to only overtake United - who host Villa on Sunday as one of their two games in hand - on goal difference at the summit as a number of glorious opportunities went begging. Liverpool were comfortable throughout the first half and were extremely unfortunate not to open the scoring as Andrea Dossena - twice - Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres rattled the woodwork of the Cottagers, who earned a goalless draw at Anfield in November. After the interval, the Reds continued to waste chances but, with Fulham closing on a hard-earned point, Benayoun struck to spark wild celebrations. Much is made of the importance of confidence in football and Liverpool have been stacking that commodity in recent weeks. They had scored 11 goals and conceded just one in their last three league games, a period which had also seen them dispatch Real Madrid from the UEFA Champions League.

Strong

Another huge Champions League encounter, a quarter-final against Chelsea, looms on Wednesday and on other days Benitez might have had one eye on that match. Not this day. Benitez fielded, arguably, one of his strongest sides, with the possible exception of midfielder Javier Mascherano who was left on the substitutes' bench. And in that first 45 minutes, in particular, they looked world beaters. Rarely can a side have dominated a football match quite so dramatically and gone in at half-time goalless. Benitez's men began as if they were under orders to get the business end of the match over as quickly as possible so as to give their star performers a breather. In truth, Fulham should have been buried. First, Dossena strode into space in the penalty area and his left-foot shot was tipped over the bar by Mark Schwarzer. From resulting corner - taken by Steven Gerrard who signed a new contract at Anfield on Friday - Martin Skrtel thundered in another left-foot shot which flicked the head of Dossena before clipping the Fulham crossbar and bouncing to safety. It was the first of four times Schwarzer's woodwork was to rattle in those first 45 minutes. And that is not counting the good work of Schwarzer, whose superb left-handed block denied Torres when the red tide was threatening to overwhelm Fulham.

Thunderous

Alonso, outside the area, unleashed a thunderous right-foot volley which crashed against the Fulham crossbar. Then it was Torres' turn after wonderful interplay with Gerrard had sliced open the Fulham defence, only demonstrating the threat of arguably the best striking partnership in world football right now. Unfortunately for Liverpool, the Spain striker's angled shot came back off the post. Incredibly, two minutes later the woodwork was trembling again. Gerrard again was the provider, swinging in a right-wing cross which Dossena threw himself at only to see his header come back off Schwarzer's bar. Liverpool could have been excused for wondering if this was not to be their day in the week Benitez picked up the Premier League Manager of the Month award. Perhaps it was the organisation and imagination of manager Roy Hodgson, who has done wonders at Craven Cottage this past 18 months. But in the 65th minute Benitez, seeing the possibility of crucial points being squandered, threw on Ryan Babel in place of Dossena. And then Benayoun entered the fray for Kuyt. The Israel star, who was an injury doubt following the recent international break did not disappoint as he sent a shot thundering past Schwarzer.

Fulham	Team Statistics	Liverpool
0	Goals	1
0	1st Half Goals	0
1	Shots on Target	7
2	Shots off Target	8
0	Blocked Shots	5
3	Corners	6
9	Fouls	10
5	Offsides	3
2	Yellow Cards	2
0	Red Cards	0
70.1	Passing Success	76.9
21	Tackles	21
71.4	Tackles Success	71.4
39.4	Possession	60.6
43.2	Territorial Advantage	56.8