Fulham goal hero Mario Lemina confident they will stay up if they replicate resilient display in Liverpool win

Mario Lemina is confident Fulham will beat the drop if they can replicate the resilient defensive display that secured their stunning win at Anfield.

Lemina scored the only goal, as Scott Parker’s side galvanised their survival chances and piled more misery on Liverpool with a 1-0 win against the champions on Merseyside.

Fulham remain in the bottom three but only on goal difference. They are now level on points with 17th-placed Brighton and have real momentum in the fight to avoid relegation.

After inflicting a sixth successive Premier League home defeat on Liverpool, belief is growing that the Cottagers can stay up.

“It depends on us and the way we play the other games,” said Lemina, whose powerful finish on the stroke of half-time gave Fulham their first win at Anfield since 2012. “If we play like that I think we will stay up.

“We are happy. We are struggling at the moment and it is hard to be at the bottom of the league, but we still believe in our quality and we showed in the first half we can play against a big opponent and in the second half we showed good character. It is three good points for us.

“Honestly I am not going to lie, I was scared because they [Liverpool] need to win some games. But I was so confident in my team. We have showed in all the games we have played that we play good football and deserve to be higher in the league.”

Fulham struggled at the start of the season after coming up through the play-offs last season and they did not win in the Premier League until their seventh match.

Their prospects were not looking good after they failed to win in December or January, but they have now lost just once in seven matches and have sucked Brighton, Newcastle and Burnley back into the relegation scrap.

Asked if victory over Liverpool was Fulham’s best win of the season, Lemina said: “Of course.

“Liverpool are not in a good spirit, but we just took our chance and we won. It was a bit like the first game at Craven Cottage [which ended 1-1 in December].

“We knew what we had to do — they were going to put pressure on us. We did well, we defended so well.”

Fulham play runaway leaders Manchester City next on Saturday, before a run of games against Leeds, Aston Villa and Wolves.

Lemina said: “We are going to fight until the end [to stay up]. Even if the next games are going to be hard, we are going to fight until the end.

“We are together. From the beginning we have been together and we are going to stay together until the end.”

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