Liverpool’s teenaged winger Rio Ngumoha became the club’s youngest player to score a Premier League goal at Anfield on Saturday before Mohamed Salah struck four minutes later in a 2-0 win over Fulham that boosted their quest for a top-five finish.
The 17-year-old Ngumoha — already the team’s youngest scorer thanks to his goal at Newcastle in August when he was 16 — etched his name alongside another record when he made space with a couple of stepovers before curling a rocket into the far corner in the 36th minute.
Salah doubled the lead with a first-time finish to the far corner in the 40th. The 33-year-old, who is leaving Anfield at the end of the season after nine remarkable years, tapped a hand to his Liverpool shirt crest with a wave to the crowd.
Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno had virtually no chance at stopping either goal.
With five Champions League places up for grabs next season, Liverpool remained fifth in the table on 52 points, four ahead of sixth-place Chelsea after their first league win since late-February.
It also came on the heels of three successive losses across all competitions, including a demoralising 4-0 rout by Manchester City in the FA Cup, and a 2-0 loss to Paris St Germain in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-finals.
Fulham narrowly missed a chance in the second half when Emile Smith Rowe’s attempt flew just wide of Giorgi Mamardashvili’s post.
Fulham are 11th on 44 points.
“Disappointing result, punished by the first half,” Fulham boss Marco Silva told the BBC.
“The statistics of the game was balanced in terms of shots, chances, it was very balanced. We had chances that we didn’t score. We were not ruthless enough.”
Liverpool have no time to rest on their laurels as they host PSG on Tuesday in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final.
“It’s a better place than it was two or three days ago or a week ago, but it’s also not that after we win everything is good again,” Slot told Sky Sports.
