Fulham vs Liverpool LIVE: Premier League result, final score and reaction today

Frank Lampard believes Everton’s dramatic escape from relegation was among the most “beautiful things” that have ever happened to him and said he enjoyed the stress of trying to keep them up.

Everton stayed up in their final home game of last season when, after being 2-0 down at half-time against Crystal Palace, they recovered to win 3-2, leading to scenes after the final whistle when Lampard was bouncing up and down on the roof of an executive box.

On Saturday he faces his former club Chelsea for the second time since his sacking in January 2021 and said he did plenty of soul-searching in a year out of the game before he was appointed at Goodison Park.

Lampard steered Chelsea to fourth place and the FA Cup final in his only full season in charge and blamed himself for some things and reflected with satisfaction on others as he admitted he put himself under pressure to succeed at Stamford Bridge.

Thomas Tuchel has defended Chelsea owner Todd Boehly after Gary Neville accused him of being “panicky” in the summer transfer window.

The Blues have been big players in the market so far with the American, who has taken on the role of sporting director at the club, keen to reshape the playing squad at Stamford Bridge.

Marc Cucurella has become the latest new face through the door, joining from Brighton in a deal understood to be worth £62million.

He follows the likes of Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly and Carney Chukwuemeka in making the move to west London in what has been a busy offseason.

Sky Sports pundit Neville has been critical of some of the decisions being made recently claiming that Boehly was “wandering around a little bit” and being “a bit panicky”.

About half an hour to team news. Sterling and Koulibaly will be the pair most likely to get an immediate debut perhaps, but Thomas Tuchel certainly has plenty of options to choose from. Midfield will be an interesting selection though and the Blues are definitely trying to strengthen there before the window shuts.

Will they land Frenkie de Jong in the end?

Here’s a reminder of the major first-team summer work done by both teams so far:

Everton

IN: Tarkowski (free), Vinagre (loan), McNeil (£20m)

OUT: Richarlison (£60m), Branthwaite (loan), Kenny (released)

Chelsea

IN: Sterling (£47.5m), Koulibaly (£33m), Slonina (£12m), Chukwuemeka (£20m), Cucurella (£62m)

OUT: Rudiger (free), Christensen (free), Drinkwater (released), Lukaku (loan), Colwill (loan)

Welcome back to the Independent’s live coverage of the opening weekend of the 2022/23 Premier League season!

Next up in action is Everton against Chelsea at Goodison Park, with Frank Lampard managing his new side against his former one.

The Toffees haven’t been hugely busy in the transfer window just yet, but a few recent moves have boosted their options - while Chelsea went big to land Marc Cucurella just before the weekend.

At the interval on the opening weekend of the season, Fulham fans would have been riding high on optimism, not just for the 90 minutes but for the season and even beyond.

It wasn’t just that they were beating Liverpool, nor even that they were deservedly ahead. Nor was it solely about the usual (and warranted) over-excitement of a Premier League return, more impending transfer arrivals in the final week of the window or the prospect of clocking up about 8 per cent of the points required to stay up already, on day one.

The added surge of hope and belief would also have been in part due to the debut performance of Joao Palhinha, a summer signing from Sporting CP who had previously been linked with bigger, more established top-flight clubs. On the basis of how he handled Liverpool’s midfield in that opening period, maybe a few are already regretting their hesitation.

While Liverpool were well below their best, Fulham and Aleksandar Mitrovic might finally be showing they have risen to the level required.

That actually felt the most significant element of this hugely entertaining 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage, even if most of the discussion will primarily be about how Jurgen Klopp’s have already fallen behind in the title race. That was because there were so many stretches of this game where they couldn’t keep up with Fulham. Marco Silva’s side were the very opposite of a pushover here, as they more than took the game to Liverpool. Silva got it right, and his team should have got more.

Personifying so much of this, though, Mitrovic completely seized the game. He even embarrassed Virgil van Dijk, leading to the penalty for the second of his two goals. Klopp even had to bring in his own big forward, in expensive new signing Darwin Nunez, to level the occasion and bring the draw.

Two goals for Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic on his return to the Premier League.