Rest and rotation casts a huge shadow over Wednesday’s events, until one particular Liverpool player produced 23 minutes of magic.
The Fantasy world went into meltdown when teamsheets were released, with a cast of big hitters either benched or rested completely.
Among the worst hit appeared to be the 49.0% of managers who had made Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah Fantasy Premier League’s (FPL) most owned player. The free-scoring midfielder was named only among the substitutes for the visit to Stoke City.
More than 200,000 managers made him the second most popular transfer target ahead of Gameweek 14 – trailing only Chelsea’s Alvaro Morata – while a further 8.7% handed the Egyptian the captaincy and promptly endured 67 minutes of despair until Jurgen Klopp finally introduced Salah from the bench.
The Reds had been holding on to a tenuous 1-0 lead given to them by Sadio Mane’s goal from a Dominic Solanke cross before Salah weaved his magic, hitting a brace that brought in 11 vital points – with two bonus points adding to the haul.
Mane and Emre Can provided the assists as Salah’s amazing scoring run continued. He now has three braces from the last four Gameweeks and leads the race for the Golden Boot with 12 goals.
Salah’s prodigious season is starting to assume Suarez-like proportions, and he brings the added joy of extra points from goals and clean sheets that come from a midfielder.
In a season where big-hitting attackers are suffering patchy runs or rotation issues – compounded by Gameweek 14’s events – Salah serenely glides on, putting previous Liverpool mainstays such as Philippe Coutinho, also benched tonight, and Robert Firmino in the shade.
With Liverpool looking forward to a fine short-term schedule (bha EVE WBA Bou), Salah’s ownership will surely surge above 50% for Gameweek 15, and his captaincy levels will also continue on an upward curve.
Reds defence deliver on the road
Klopp’s defence held on for a sixth clean sheet of the season, with Alberto Moreno and Joe Gomez spared rotation to start in the full-back spots once again.
The Spaniard has now started nine straight league matches, while the young England international has been involved in eight of the last nine.
Meanwhile, the Liverpool boss confirmed post-match that Ragnar Klavan missed out at the bet365 Stadium through illness.
The Stoke shut-out was Liverpool’s first away from home and with those strong fixtures to come, investment in one of this cut-price pair – they’re both currently available for 4.6 – appears attractive.
As for Stoke, they’ve now conceded 29 goals.
Only West Ham, who were thrashed 4-0 tonight, have allowed more, and the Potters have now kept just two clean sheets from their 14 matches this season.
Much as we’d like to scour the Stoke defence for cut-price options, their current form and confidence is just too weak – even in the light of improving fixtures.
