Liverpool blast past Manchester City 3-0 to close in on a Champions League semi-final spot on a night when a possible injury to Mohamed Salah takes the Fantasy centre stage.
One of the few Fantasy Premier League (FPL) tables the Egyptian attacker doesn’t dominate is ‘Minutes Played’, his 2,469 minutes of pitch-time just enough to claim a place in the top 20 among midfielders.
But he’s missed only one league match all season – a 2-1 win away at Burnley on New Year’s Day – so the sight of Salah heading off down the Anfield tunnel after 53 minutes of last night’s tie was a decidedly rare one.
It was also a shocking one for many of his 62.8% ownership, all of whom must now wait for official confirmation as to the extent of the issue, which appeared to involve a groin injury.
The fact that Salah returned to the pitch to celebrate with his team-mates after the final whistle suggested the problem was a minor one, although coach Jurgen Klopp was committing to little post-match.
“He came to the sideline and said he feels sometimes something; for me, that was enough for me to not even ask the doc how he was, we immediately took him off the pitch. After the game I asked him and he said, ‘I will be good, it will be fine’. But now we have to wait for the real diagnosis, not Mo’s self-diagnosis. We will see, I don’t know at the moment.”
Even if in contention, we have to consider that Klopp will need to perfect a balancing act between giving some priority to the Merseyside derby, while preserving key men for Tuesday’s second leg.
Post-match, the Liverpool coach wasted little time in stating the conundrum ahead, pointing the finger directly at the Premier League and the fixture schedule that hands them the early kick-off on Saturday.
“We play on Saturday at 12:30 and if you want to see games like this, then the Premier League have to think about it, really. Because that will be really tough, and probably Everton are more happy about the game than we are, and that’s not fair…We have now a problem to find somehow players for Saturday, and everyone’s telling us it’s the most important game of the year, and that’s quite difficult.”
Clearly, Klopp will be taking no chances with his star men, yet even if Salah only misses this weekend’s trip to Everton – or is restricted to a sub role – and returns the following weekend, his place in many squads could now be at risk.
As this concern comes at a time when six teams are set to play twice in Double Gameweek 34, he could be deemed as disposable, given that the likes of Spurs, Chelsea, Man United and Man United have big-hitting midfielders who will play three times over the next two rounds of fixtures.
Looking at the remaining fixtures in terms of our captaincy choices, Salah would likely be earmarked in Gameweek 33 (eve), Gameweek 35 (wba), Gameweek 36 (STK) and Gameweek 38 (BHA).
However, there are strong alternatives on offer – opting for both Harry Kane and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang up top would grant an armband solution to those fixtures (stk/SOT WHU WAT LEI/hud).
Furthermore, last night’s result may have dented the Merseysiders’ allure regardless. If anything is beyond Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering City side this season, hauling back a three-goal deficit while avoiding a dreaded away goal is probably it.
So should Liverpool complete the European job in next Tuesday’s second leg, rotation of their key players, injured or otherwise, could be on the agenda, with Salah, Roberto Firmino (47.9%) and Sadio Mane (11%) particularly vulnerable.
Possession of the Free Hit looks key to many managers’ strategy. Those without will doubtless consider retaining Salah and his attacking team-mates. But those managers with the option to recall Salah with the chip for Gameweek 35 could now have an opportunity to sell and distribute the profit to facilitate Double Gameweek investment and, in particular, a move for Harry Kane.
All three of Liverpool’s trio of attackers were heavily involved last night. Salah opened the scoring from a Firmino assist and then set up the third goal for Mane. In between, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored a long-range screamer from Jordan Henderson’s assist.
The Champions League semi-finals take place on April 24 and 25 and May 1 and 2.
Klopp’s side are away at West Brom in Gameweek 35’s reduced slate before the first leg, at home to Stoke City after it and then visit Chelsea following the conclusion of the semi-final.
Barring a major meltdown in the league, their place in next season’s Champions League is assured regardless of even that Chelsea match-up, making domestic rotation all but inevitable unless City produce something remarkable next week.
Selling Salah (10.7) and, to a lesser extent, Firmino (9.7) would, therefore, go a long way to securing the services of a stellar front line of Kane, Aubameyang and Romelu Lukaku, who offer five Double Gameweeks between them.
Kane has a third consecutive Golden Boot award to chase and his Double Gameweek 37 (wba NEW) could now take on more significance should his rival Salah still be sidelined, with the Triple Captain chip looking ideal. Meanwhile, Aubameyang is consigned only to domestic duties, which furthers his appeal.
Transfers-out involving Liverpool’s assets bar Salah have been ongoing in recent weeks. Last night’s result, and the Egyptian’s injury scare, are likely to accelerate sales. In saying that, only 8,500 have parted company with Salah over the last 24 hours – a sign that his owners are prepared to wait for further updates in order to protect their profit. That still makes Salah the most sold player overnight, however.
On the flip side, interest in City players could be re-ignited.
The worst case Fantasy scenario had involved Guardiola’s side winning the league title on Saturday and securing a Champions League semi-final spot three days later, all of which would have left their key players vulnerable to rotation.
While that now seems a long way off, their immediate schedule – at home to United, away at Spurs – is far from persuasive.
Unless they produce one of the Champions League’s greatest comebacks on Tuesday, City will now have a free run at securing a number of Premier League records to round out a remarkable domestic campaign.
From Gameweek 35 onwards, though, the run-in could barely be more conducive to Fantasy returns (SWA whu HUD & BHA sot), with all of their final five opponents currently mired in the bottom eight.
Salah’s injury and the result aside, two of the more significant events of last night involved Raheem Sterling and Henderson.
The former was benched by Guardiola, who instead opted for Ilkay Gundogan to start at Anfield.
The move did not pay off and Sterling replaced the German after 56 minutes, with the England international now looking highly likely to start both against United at the weekend and Liverpool next Tuesday.
Henderson, meanwhile, picked up a yellow card that rules him out of the quarter-final second leg. As a result, he will surely start Saturday’s Merseyside derby away at Everton, allowing one of his fellow central midfielders to be rested.
With Liverpool almost certain to opt for a more defensive set-up on Tuesday, James Milner or, if fit, Emre Can, are likely to be saved for then, which suggests further domestic pitch-time for Oxlade-Chamberlain, either centrally or as a replacement for Salah.
All will remain ifs and buts until the tie concludes on Tuesday.
