Liverpool’s teenage 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 the club’s quest for a top five finish.
The 17-year-old Ngumoha – already the team’s youngest goalscorer thanks to his goal at Newcastle in August when he was 16 – put his name next to another record when he made space with a pair of step-overs before curling a rocket into the far corner in the 36th minute.
Salah doubled the lead with a first-time finish into the far corner in the 40th. The 33-year-old, who leaves Anfield at the end of the season after nine remarkable years, tapped his hand against the logo of his Liverpool shirt and waved to the crowd.
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal. | Photo credit: AP
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal. | Photo credit: AP
Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno had virtually no chance to stop both goals.
With five Champions League places up for grabs next season, Liverpool remained fifth in the table with 52 points, four ahead of Chelsea in sixth after their first league win since late February.
It also came after three successive defeats in all competitions, including a demoralizing 4-0 defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup, and a 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot had said his side were in ‘survival mode’ against PSG on Wednesday, but things came together again on Saturday as the youth and experience of the two goalscorers at opposite ends of their careers combined to right the ship against Fulham.
Salah now has 108 Premier League goals at Anfield, with only Thierry Henry (114 at Highbury) scoring more at a single venue in the competition’s history.
Liverpool full-back Andy Robertson called Ngumoha “incredible”.
“(The goal was) a great finish, great performance from him,” Robertson said Air sports. «He just keeps learning and listening, he’s such a good kid. He has a big future ahead of him, but here and now it’s pretty good too.»
Liverpool almost scored a third goal in the second half on Saturday after Jeremy Frimpong worked the ball into the area before sending an inviting cross to Cody Gakpo but the striker could not finish.
Fulham narrowly missed a chance in the second half when Emile Smith Rowe’s effort flew just wide of Giorgi Mamardashvili’s post.
Fulham are eleventh with 44 points.
“Disappointing result, punished by the first half,” Fulham boss Marco Silva told the club BBC.
«The statistics of the match were balanced in terms of shots and chances; it was very balanced. We had chances that we didn’t score. We weren’t ruthless enough.»
Liverpool have no time to rest on their laurels as they host PSG in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday.
«It is a better place than two, three days ago or a week ago, but it is not the case that everything is good again after we have won,» Slot said. Air sports.
Published on April 12, 2026
