Liverpool climb to joint-third in the top flight after a second successive 1-0 win. Christian Benteke grabs his first goal for the Anfield outfit, whilst Jordan Henderson supplies the assist before being forced off with a foot problem. Here’s the notes from Monday’s floodlit encounter…
Benteke Fires Reds To Victory
Christian Benteke came up trumps at the second time of asking, opening his Liverpool account by virtue of a controversial goal. Although Bournemouth fans will lament the linesman’s decision not to raise the offside flag after Philippe Coutinho seemingly interfered with play, Benteke’s 40% ownership were delighted to bank the Belgian’s nine-point haul in an otherwise low-scoring Gameweek.
Benteke’s prospects are mixed over the next five Gameweeks (ars, WHU, mun, NOR, AVL), with two challenging road trips balanced out by three enticing home encounters. Nonetheless, the former Aston Villa hitman will certainly fancy his chances to score at Old Trafford, having netted in both league ties against Manchester United last term.
The Reds were far from commanding but ultimately secured their second consecutive victory and clean sheet. Naturally, Fantasy managers will be drawn towards their rearguard assets, with Joe Gomez (4.6) presenting the cheapest option of the current starters. On that note, the difficulty of Liverpool’s next trio of fixtures and the threat of rotation from Alberto Moreno diminishes the 18-year-old’s appeal slightly.
Philippe Coutinho failed to register in back-to-back matches, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying: no player in the league fashioned more attempts at goal (eight) than the Brazilian playmaker in Gameweek 2, emphasising his status as the most potent goal threat in the Reds’ midfield. Of course, Roberto Firmino – who replaced Jordon Ibe in the 70th minute – harbours the potential to steal that crown away from his compatriot when he’s afforded a starting berth.
Jordan Henderson delivered his first attacking returns of the campaign with the assist for Benteke’s close-range strike. His 20.1% ownership couldn’t cheer for long, however, after the Reds captain was replaced by Emre Can at the 52-minute mark due to a foot injury. Brendan Rodgers revealed after the match that Henderson missed training during the week because of this complaint:
“He’s had a problem with the bottom of his foot. He hadn’t trained for part of the week, he was taking some painkillers with it. He did ever so well to even be out on the field. He wanted to try it, he wanted to give it a go, but you could see he was limited in his running. He did great for us in the period of time that he was on but it’s important that we get victories and it’s important that we have fit players on the field and unfortunately for him he was just in too much pain.”
Ritchie Impresses Despite Cherries Defeat
After carding a 1-0 defeat for the second week running, Bournemouth join Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion in the relegation zone. The Cherries turned out a spirited performance but failed to test Liverpool keeper Simon Mignolet with enough regularity, tallying just two shots on target throughout the 90 minutes.
Much of the Cherries’ positive play funnelled through winger Matt Ritchie (5.9), who ranked fourth for attempts at goal (five) among midfielders this Gameweek and struck the upright with one of his efforts. In light of the south coast club’s excellent upcoming run of fixtures (whm, LEI, nor, SUN, sto, WAT), the Scotsman’s 4% ownership may well be reluctant to cut their losses just yet.
Budget forward Callum Wilson was less impressive up front alongside Joshua King, mustering just one shot all night. With places in our three-man frontlines at a premium and having already dropped to 5.4 overnight, Wilson seems unlikely to survive the chop among those managers with Wildcards active.
Eddie Howe made two changes to his opening day line-up, drafting in both Eunan O’Kane and Max Gradel for their first starts, with Dan Gosling and Marc Pugh dropping to the bench. While Wilson disappointed, it was King who made way on the hour-mark as Howe looked to revive fortunes. New signing Lee Tomlin was introduced for King and he could now threaten to work his way into the starting line-up for the trip to West Ham in Gameweek 3. At the back, popular budget option, Tyrone Mings, was again benched with Charlie Daniels retaining the left-back berth.
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