Marco Silva hails Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno ahead of trip to Liverpool

Fulham boss Marco Silva has again heaped praise on Bernd Leno as he described the goalkeeper’s performance against Manchester City on Sunday as “extraordinary”.

Leno produced a number of fine saves during the 2-1 home loss that saw Pep Guardiola’s Premier League champions score through an Erling Haaland penalty and stunning Julian Alvarez strike.

Silva in March hailed Leno as “one of the three best” goalkeepers in the Premier League, something he has reiterated ahead of Wednesday’s trip to Liverpool.

Asked for his assessment of the German’s performance on Sunday, Silva said: “Extraordinary.

“(He is a) top, top goalkeeper and, I keep repeating, in my opinion he’s one of the best three goalkeepers in this competition.

“He is showing his quality every single game – games when he has more work to do, with the other team creating dangerous moments around our box, he is always there, and when you have the game under control and then a chance appears for the opposition, he is there as well.

“He’s been brilliant and the most important thing in a goalkeeper is being really consistent, and from the first match he played, against Brentford at home (in August) to now he’s been for sure one of the most consistent goalkeepers this season in the Premier League.”

Fulham, whose top-scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic’s eight-match suspension still has two more games to go, will also on Wednesday be without skipper Tim Ream (broken arm) and midfielder Andreas Pereira (leg), both having been ruled out for the rest of the season due to injuries sustained in the City game.

The Cottagers are assessing Willian, absent for the last two matches due to a hamstring issue.

Tenth in the table, they face a Liverpool outfit who moved up to fifth with Sunday’s 4-3 win over Tottenham, a fourth successive victory for Jurgen Klopp’s men.

Silva said: “They are in a good moment right now, they want to keep the momentum, of course they want to build from that situation.

“It’s up to us to be ready to play at Anfield, it’s always really tough. It will be another great challenge for us.

“As I said before the Man City game, for us all the matches are a challenge, and we like to embrace the challenge. I think (Sunday) is the best example, and I think really reflects Fulham as a team this season.

“It is not easy to start the game against a top side, one of the best in the world, and concede a penalty inside the first or second minute of the match, with the absences of Mitro and Willian, two key players in our attack line, losing our captain in that game with a bad injury, and after the beginning of the second half, Andreas Pereira as well.

“Even so, we were able to react as a team, to equalise, to make it really difficult for City, and show the resilience, character and personality of this group of players, and our organisation.

“I think we created different problems to them, and we want to show that (again).”