While Manchester City and Manchester United sealed their passages to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday and can possibly entertain the idea of resting a few players in their next European matches (though first place in each group admittedly remains up for grabs), Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur will each face a midweek showdown in a fortnight’s time in order to progress.
That there is still all to play for in their respective fixtures against Napoli and Barcelona in between Gameweeks 16 and 17 only adds to the complicated December picture for Fantasy managers, with rotation seemingly all-the-more inevitable after Wednesday evening’s results.
Liverpool slumped to their third successive away defeat in the Champions League as they were deservedly beaten by Paris Saint-Germain, while Spurs kept alive their hopes of qualification to the knockout stages with a 1-0 win over Inter.
We round up the goals, assists, injury news, Fantasy talking points and manager quotes – including some telling comments from Mauricio Pochettino regarding rotation – from the matches at the Parc des Princes and Wembley.
Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 Liverpool
- Goal: James Milner (£5.6m)
- Assist: Sadio Mane (£9.9m)
Our reports of Liverpool’s away matches in the Champions League this season have had a similar refrain: below-par defensively, limited in attack.
That was again the case last night as the Reds fell to another loss on the continent, leaving themselves with the task of beating Napoli a week on Tuesday in order to reach the round of 16.
PSG overran Liverpool in the opening 45 minutes to race two goals ahead, and while James Milner‘s (£5.6m) penalty just before half-time sparked the slightest of improvements from Jurgen Klopp’s side after the interval, this was perhaps more down to a fall-off in performance from their hosts.
The fact that Milner’s converted spot-kick was Liverpool’s only shot on target in the entire 90 minutes said much about their potency up front.
That Sadio Mane (£9.9m) was the pick of the Reds’ front three said more about the poor displays of Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) and Roberto Firmino (£9.2m) than his own high levels on the left, but the Senegalese midfielder at least showed willing to run at the PSG backline and indeed it was his drive into the French side’s box that drew a foul from Angel di Maria for Liverpool’s penalty.
Firmino, who broke his seven-game run without an attacking FPL return with a 12-point haul against Watford on Saturday, was anonymous as Liverpool’s central striker, wasting one presentable chance when heading Andrew Robertson‘s (£6.5m) cross well wide of Gianluigi Buffon’s goal.
Salah saw more of the ball but lacked conviction with it, twice firing wide in the first half and too often making the wrong decision when in possession.
The front three weren’t helped by the players behind them – Milner, Jordan Henderson (£5.3m) and Georginio Wijnaldum (£5.5m) – and the game perhaps only served to enhance the reputation of Xherdan Shaqiri (£7.0m), who was benched for this encounter but whose inventiveness was missed in attack.
Whether Klopp would roll out a 4-2-3-1 in a Merseyside derby remains to be seen, but Shaqiri will surely come back into the Liverpool manager’s thinking for the visit of Everton on Sunday. The Swiss midfielder could potentially even replace one of Firmino or Salah, with the fixtures piling up over the coming weeks and rotation a necessity.
Much like those who own Shaqiri in FPL, the Fantasy bosses who count Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.2m) among their squad wouldn’t have been disappointed to see the England right-back demoted to the bench last night.
Joe Gomez (£5.1m) had a torrid evening at right-back up against Neymar, with Virgil van Dijk (£6.0m) and Dejan Lovren (£4.9m) also struggling at centre-half and indebted to Alisson (£5.7m) to bail them out on several occasions. Van Dijk’s poor clearance and the sluggish reactions from his fellow defenders indeed led to PSG’s first goal.
Alexander-Arnold would seem likely to come back into the reckoning when Marco Silva’s side visit Anfield in Gameweek 14, particularly after registering clean sheets and attacking returns in his last two league starts.
Robertson was the pick of Liverpool’s defenders and perhaps their stand-out player overall, coupling his defensive duties with some lung-busting runs down the left flank when his side were on the front foot.
The left-back’s attacking contributions were mentioned in Klopp’s post-match comments, with the Liverpool boss bemoaning his side’s use of the ball in possession:
In two, three or four situations we had the chance to do much better with one little decision – Robbo in the box, fantastic play, and then we hit the first player who makes a sliding tackle. The quick corner we had, we can go in the box and do something else.
There were a lot of moments that with one little different decision we are in a very promising moment. That’s the reason we lost; they scored two and we scored one and in these moments, our decision-making was not good enough.
The Reds picked up six yellow cards, though Klopp was angry about PSG’s gamesmanship after full-time:
The number of interruptions in the game was not cool. We have won the fair play league twice in England but we looked like butchers when you see the yellow cards we had.
It was clever of PSG, of Neymar – especially him – but a lot of players went down like it was serious and we were not that calm. If the referee lets that happen you have to deal with that as a team.
Liverpool XI (4-3-3): Alisson; Gomez, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson; Milner (Shaqiri 77′), Henderson, Wijnaldum (Keita 66′); Salah, Firmino (Sturridge 71′), Mane.
Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Internazionale
- Goal: Christian Eriksen (£9.2m)
- Assist: Dele Alli (£8.9m)
Following their excellent display and result against Chelsea on Saturday, Spurs and their Fantasy assets continue to look attractive propositions for the much-discussed fixture swing in Gameweek 15 after a 1-0 win over Inter on Wednesday.
Which players to plump for is another question, however.
Christian Eriksen (£9.2m) furthered his credentials with Spurs’ winner on 80 minutes and could have emerged with an assist to his name too when Jan Vertonghen (£5.9m) headed the Dane’s drifting free-kick wide from inside the six-yard box.
Eriksen was only introduced as a 70th-minute substitute, however, and while he now looks a good bet to line up in the north London derby on Sunday, the fact that his minutes continue to be managed after an abdominal injury casts doubt on his ability to string together a series of starts in the Premier League.
Lucas Moura (£7.1m) and Erik Lamela (£6.4m) have established themselves as viable attacking midfield alternatives in Eriksen’s absence this season and, while neither particularly excelled against their Italian opposition last night, will surely continue to eat into the Dane’s minutes over the festive period.
The likelihood of Eriksen staring all four of Spurs’ matches over Christmas, as happened last season, looks fairly remote at this stage.
Son Heung-min (£8.3m), another who impressed at Wembley on Saturday, was also reduced to a substitute’s appearance – something Mauricio Pochettino explained after the match while also promising rotation in the coming month:
I cannot play with 13 players. One thing I don’t like in football is that rule. Maybe we need to change to rolling subs, like basketball, so you can go in and out. If you have time I think you need to see our fixtures.
When we started against Chelsea we were going to play 12 games in 40 days – that means we will play every three days. To do that, there’s no player – maybe the keeper – who can play in the 12 games. The most important thing is to try to avoid risk, mix the team with different players and rotate so all players feel important.
When we sign players and you decided to have 24-25 players in the squad, it’s so difficult to only give the possibility to play with 11, 12 or 13. You need to give the possibility they deserve.
Dele Alli (£8.9m) made his third start in a row for Spurs and looks back to full fitness, registering the assist for Eriksen’s goal after returning a double-digit haul in the win over Maurizio Sarri’s side at the weekend.
Alli, who did catch the eye from an attacking perspective against Chelsea, is again perhaps not the Fantasy option he was last season.
While he still managed to fire off two attempts on goal against Inter and pop up in several promising offensive positions, his remit to drop deeper into a midfield three was again in evidence on Wednesday evening – something the player has himself discussed in recent days:
I think my role has changed a bit, I’m playing a little deeper, I’m not always thinking about scoring goals or assisting. As long as I’m helping the team I’m happy.
While Harry Winks (£5.5m) and Moussa Sissoko (£4.9m) aren’t names that leap out from a Fantasy perspective, the deep-lying midfield pair were excellent again against Inter.
Winks struck the crossbar with a shot from distance, while Sissoko made a number of surging runs forward and was the link between Spurs’ defence and attack.
Pochettino hailed Sissoko’s renaissance after the match:
His contribution is a fantastic thing for the team in a period when we need this type of performance. He provides the team a very good balance in transitions and defensive situations and plays in possession better than we thought. That shows that being professional and working hard you can improve a lot. In two and a half years, Moussa has a massive improvement.
Onto the main event: Harry Kane (£12.3m).
The premium forward has looked increasingly sharp in recent weeks and was particularly bright in the early stages of this encounter, driving at the Inter backline and forcing Samir Handanovic into a save from a narrow angle on seven minutes before teeing up Alli after another surge.
His chances were few and far between thereafter, save for a comfortable stop that he drew from Handanovic after the break, and the game didn’t really tell us anything new: Kane is looking more dangerous than he did in the early part of the season but continues to drop deep to kick-start Spurs’ attacks.
Serge Aurier (£5.8m) continued at right-back in Kieran Trippier‘s (£6.1m) absence, with news awaited on the England defender’s availability for the north London derby from Pochettino’s presser on Friday.
Danny Rose (£5.8m) will challenge for the left-back slot in Gameweek 14 after returning from injury to be among the substitutes last night, while Jan Vertonghen (£5.9m) made his first start since September at centre-half – Juan Foyth (£5.0m) making way.
Tottenham Hotspur XI (4-3-2-1): Lloris; Aurier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Davies; Sissoko, Winks (Dier 87′), Alli; Lamela (Eriksen 70′), Moura (Son 62′); Kane.
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