Story highlights
Liverpool suffer a surprise 1-0 Premier League defeat at Fulham on Monday
American international Clint Dempsey scores the only goal with five minutes left
The result leaves Liverpool seventh in the Premier League 15 points off the lead
Sevilla and Lazio both claim 3-0 victories in Spain and Italy respectively
Liverpool’s hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League have taken a knock after a shock 1-0 Premier League defeat at struggling Fulham on Monday.
American international Clint Dempsey scored from close range, after goalkeeper Pepe Reina has spilled a shot from former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy into his path.
An entertaining game saw both sides have chances to break the deadlock before Dempsey’s strike.
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Jordan Henderson hit the post in the first half for Liverpool, while Dempsey himself curled a superb shot onto the crossbar.
However, the turning point of the match came with 18 minutes remaining when Liverpool midfielder Jay Spearing was shown a straight red card for a lunging challenge on Mousa Dembele.
That gave Fulham a man advantage and they took advantage when Dempsey was on hand late on to give the London side just their third win of the season, moving them up to 13th place in the table.
Meanwhile, Liverpool’s defeat ends a run of six straight away wins for Kenny Dalglish’s side, meaning they stay in seventh place, a huge 15 points behind leaders Manchester City.
In Italy’s Serie A, two goals from captain Tommaso Rocchi helped Lazio to a 3-0 win over strugglers Novara on Monday.
Giuseppe Biava was also on target for the home side who remain fourth, just four points adrift of leaders Juventus.
And in Spain, Sevilla have moved up to fifth place in the La Liga table after goals from Federico Fazio, Manu del Moral and Frederic Kanoute gave them a comfortable 3-0 success over Getafe.