Liverpool’s Fantasy Premier League assets were largely the cause of delight for most of their owners on Saturday afternoon.
The Reds ran out 3-0 winners at Watford, recording their eighth clean sheet of the campaign in the process.
Meanwhile, there were further developments in the ongoing saga of Mohamed Salah‘s (£13.0m) FPL worth compared to both his team-mates and rivals…
Watford 0-3 Liverpool
Goals: Mohamed Salah (£13.0m), Trent Alexander-Arnold, Roberto Firmino
Assists: Sadio Mané x2 (£9.9m), Firmino
Mohamed Salah proved himself the winner of the Gameweek 13 captaincy debate with his contribution to Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Watford, his sixth goal in three matches against the Hornets. It was just his fourth attacking return away from home this season but an eight-point haul was enough to outscore both Sergio Aguero (£11.5m) and Richarlison (£7.0m). The pair were Salah’s main rivals for the armband according to our recent Captain Poll, but they combined for five points on Saturday afternoon.
In truth, it was a rather lacklustre performance from Salah and his attacking team-mates. The Egyptian had just two shots on goal at Vicarage Road, his lowest tally in a single league match since Gameweek 6. Both of them were accurate, which was a little more in keeping with his average shots on target for the previous six Gameweeks (1.66).
Despite recording an 11th attacking return in 13 matches, Salah was in fact outscored by Sadio Mané (£9.9m), who registered two assists. The Senegalese international has certainly proved less reliable than his Egyptian colleague this season, but when he does deliver, his Gameweek score tends to be similar to Salah’s. Mané has produced attacking returns in just five of his 13 Premier League outings this year, but in all of those he either matched or outscored Salah. For that reason, there remain just six points between their current total scores (83 to 77). Interestingly, neither Salah or Mané recorded any bonus points.
The most impressive performer for Liverpool at Watford was actually Roberto Firmino (£9.2m). His goal and assist contributed to a 12-point haul, propped up by maximum bonus. The Brazilian had more shots in the match than any other player which is certainly encouraging, although the two attacking returns were his first since Gameweek 5.
Once again, Liverpool lined up in a 4-2-3-1 with Salah as the focal point of the attack. Firmino operated as the number 10 just behind him with Mané and Xherdan Shaqiri (£7.0m) on the left and right flanks of attacking midfield
The fact that Shaqiri kept his place in the side following a goal-scoring performance against Fulham in Gameweek 12 is food for thought. His recent performances have almost left Jurgen Klopp with no choice but to name him in the first XI on a regular basis. The formation change seems to have played into Shaqiri’s hands as well, as he may no longer be competing for a third central midfield slot, but for the right attacking midfield position vacated by Salah. The Swiss international was the chief creator in the match, fashioning more opportunities than any other player thanks to his involvement in set pieces.
Shaqiri’s chances of a start against Everton were also boosted by the fact that Jordan Henderson (£5.3m) was sent off in the second half. The Merseyside derby is the only domestic match he will miss. Klopp had no complaints about either of the yellow cards Henderson picked up, although he was frustrated that the dismissal happened just before the Englishman was to be replaced in a like-for-like swap with Fabinho (£5.5m). In the end, it was Salah who was withdrawn for the Brazilian to come on and protect the lead.
“I think they were both yellow cards but things like this happen if you play in a defensive midfield situation. I don’t know how many challenges Hendo had today or situations where he had to be closing up either the player or space. Twice he was there with a hand and made a tactical foul. The second one I didn’t like too much because we wanted to change him in that situation, Fabinho was ready and then he got it. Things like this happen, it is nothing serious and we won the game. The only not-so-nice thing is that he cannot play against Everton but that’s already accepted.” – Jurgen Klopp
This was another Liverpool performance that demonstrated their evolution from the rip-roaring counter-attacking sides Klopp has assembled in his previous campaigns in English football. While they were largely unconvincing in attack again, they did maintain control of the match, registering 63.9% possession and the higher shot count away from home. The result itself did flatter Liverpool, but showing a ruthless edge in the closing stages is generally what quality teams do.
It seems fairly obvious that this new direction is one of the reasons why they are so defensively solid this year, good news for owners of Andrew Robertson (£6.5m), Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.1m) and the like. It perhaps goes without saying that Klopp clearly favours the impact this has had on the consistency of results. The fact that this team is the first Liverpool side to have 33 points after 13 league games is all the proof he needs.
“It was a really mature performance. I am not sure if we had the ball in the past when we’ve played here, they were much more open games – especially the 3-3 we played here. We’ve never controlled games like this in the manner we do it now. I like that. I know a few people miss one or two situations which we had in the last season, especially the second part of the season. We had these games last year, we had to play against teams like this. It is not fair to compare it with other games. In the similar games last year, we were not that convincing. It was not that clear that we controlled the games, but we controlled [this game].” – Jurgen Klopp
Despite concerns of rotation, both Robertson and Alexander-Arnold started the match at full-back. Fantasy managers had been put off by Robertson especially by Klopp’s press conference comments on his international exertions. However, the fact that the left-back played in spite of a late comeback, and ahead of a crunch Champions League trip to PSG, solidifies Robertson’s standing within the team.
“It was a difficult situation today. Maybe I should not talk about it but it’s to explain how difficult things are to prepare a game like this. I know you always expect perfection but we had exactly one session to prepare this game because they came back on Thursday – the Brazilians and Robbo, for example.” – Jurgen Klopp
Alexander-Arnold also furthered his Fantasy appeal by scoring his first goal of the campaign. The young right-back has been on direct free kicks for some time but he really drew attention to that fact by firing one into the top corner in the second half. Interestingly, Alexander-Arnold now has the same number of attacking returns as Robertson this season.
Versatile defender Joe Gomez (£5.1m) missed out on the match after picking up a minor injury in training. Klopp is hopeful that he will be back soon.
“In the last second of yesterday’s session, he got a little knock,” said the manager. We thought: ‘Come on, let’s bring him and have a look in the morning.’ He said it was 80 per cent better, that’s good. So he’s no doubt for Wednesday. But we had Trent and Dejan at 100 per cent, so we didn’t have to make a decision. It was clear he could be rested and can recover more, and then he is ready for Wednesday again.” – Jurgen Klopp
Watford were fairly well organised for much of the match, and did make sure Liverpool had to work very hard for their win. Coming into the match only Manchester City had conceded fewer big chances than Watford in their previous four matches. The performance certainly showed signs that clean sheets could be recorded against Leicester and Everton in Gameweeks 14 and 16 respectively. As has already been explained, a 3-0 scoreline was an unfair reflection of the match.
“I think it was a game closer than the scoreline but playing against this team – they’re a very good team and they’re able to do this. I think we did very good defensive work in the first half. They have a lot of different qualities – they score from a free-kick as well and it was a tough game for us.” – Javi Gracia
Isaac Success (£4.6m) was absent from the starting line-up for the first time since Gameweek 8. The Nigerian international was named on the substitutes’ bench with Troy Deeney (£5.9m) coming back into the side to play up front with Gerard Deulofeu (£5.4m), who had an early goal ruled out for offside. However, Success did replace the former Everton and Barcelona midfielder in the 57th minute.
Jose Holebas (£4.8m) missed out on the match with a calf problem, although there was no further information given on the extent of the injury.
WATFORD XI: Foster; Masina, Mariappa, Cathcart, Kiko Femenia; Pereyra, Doucouré, Capoue, Hughes (Gray 75′); Deulofeu (Success 57′), Deeney
LIVERPOOL XI: Alisson; Robertson, Van Dijk, Lovren, Alexander-Arnold; Wijnaldum, Henderson, Shaqiri (Milner 74′); Firmino (Matip 92′), Mane, Salah (Fabinho 85′).
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