Nine-man Reds lose again

Liverpool finished a dramatic match with nine men after defenders Philipp Degen and Jamie Carragher both received red cards as they crashed to a 3-1 defeat at Fulham.

Bobby Zamora had scored for the home side before Fernando Torres replied.

Erik Nevland restored Fulham's lead before Clint Dempsey sealed the win, with the visitors having both Degen and Carragher dismissed.

Fulham had not had a single shot on Jose Reina's goal when, shortly after Yossi Benayoun had produced an acrobatic volley which fairly rattled the Fulham crossbar, the home side broke away. The ball came to Damien Duff on the left and he curled in a raking cross which allowed Zamora to tap home from close range.

When the equaliser came Liverpool could hardly put it down to rhythm and style.

Andriy Voronin's weak header cannoned off a Fulham defender and arced into the hitting zone of Torres. The Spaniard swivelled and a fabulous volley from the edge of the box fairly scorched past Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.

The Cottagers went ahead after 74 minutes, when Reina could only parry Paul Konchesky's cross. The ball was headed back across goal by Zoltan Gera and there was Nevland to slide the ball into the net.

It got worse for Liverpool four minutes later when Degen was sent off for a reckless lunge on Dempsey.

Three minutes later Liverpool were down to nine men when Carragher brought down Zamora and also received a red card.

And to wrap up an afternoon to forget for Rafael Benitez, Dempsey rolled in the third for Fulham.