We’ve got the Fantasy talking points from three more matches contested on Boxing Day, plus the usual round-up of injury news, goals, assists and manager quotes.
Liverpool 4-0 Newcastle United
- Goals: Dejan Lovren (£4.9m), Mohamed Salah (£13.2m), Xherdan Shaqiri (£7.1m), Fabinho (£5.5m)
- Assists: Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.1m), Mohamed Salah
This was an unexpectedly satisfying afternoon for owners of the majority of Liverpool’s most popular Fantasy assets, save for those still clinging on to Roberto Firmino (£9.2m) and/or Sadio Mane (£9.6m).
The much-feared rotation failed to materialise as Jurgen Klopp named perhaps the strongest team available to him, with Xherdan Shaqiri (£7.1m) joining Mane, Firmino and Mohamed Salah (£13.2m) in a 4-2-3-1, Virgil van Dijk (£6.3m) and Andrew Robertson (£6.6m) dodging a “rest” in defence, and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.1m) returning from injury to start at right-back.
We had previously mentioned how Liverpool’s fixture schedule over the festive period was the least punishing of the 20 Premier League teams regarding recovery time but the visit of Newcastle was always seen as the match in which rotation could potentially occur.
The extra rest days certainly helped reduce the necessity of widespread tinkering but perhaps Klopp was more intent on maintaining momentum and consolidating his side’s lead at the top of the table, with Manchester City stuttering behind them.
With Arsenal and Pep Guardiola’s troops up next in the league, it would surely appear that the risk of wholesale line-up changes has now passed for Liverpool assets over the Christmas period.
The manner of this 4-0 victory over the Magpies would also have eased worries over fatigue, with the Reds in complete control after a bright-ish start from the visitors and not breaking a sweat in the second half.
An excellent headed chance for Joselu (£4.2m) and several teasing deliveries from Matt Ritchie (£5.8m) caused problems early on, though, while substitute Sean Longstaff (£4.5m) almost ruined millions of clean sheets across the world with an injury-time opportunity that Alisson (£5.9m) scrambled away.
Klopp indeed wasn’t happy with his side’s defensive start, highlighting perhaps the risks associated with a 4-2-3-1 with Arsenal and City to come in the next week:
It was difficult. It is always difficult. I liked the start offensively, but I didn’t like the start defensively – the protection was not as it should have been. We were not as compact as we should have been.
They had the first corner, half-counters and stuff like that, so it looked like kind of an open game. When we had the ball, after the first 15 minutes, we were good – one-twos, good finishes.
We lost the formation a little bit, we were too wide offensively. If we could play the ball in behind it was good, but if they could clear it with a header then we were not there to win the ball back formation-wise.
Salah was again bright as the spearhead of the Liverpool attack but had only one shot on goal all match, which came from the penalty spot just after half-time.
The Egyptian won the contentious spot-kick himself but any suggestion that FPL’s most expensive player would face retrospective action for his perhaps exaggerated fall following a Paul Dummett (£4.4m) tug were quickly rubbished on Thursday morning.
Salah secured a third double-digit haul in four Gameweeks by providing the assist for Fabinho‘s (£5.5m) header from a corner and while his underlying stats weren’t great for once yesterday afternoon, he was a constant menace and again the pick of Liverpool’s front players.
Firmino was once more deployed in a deeper role behind Salah and was effective but failed to suggest he is anything other than a vastly inferior premium FPL option as a result, returning his 11th blank in 14 Gameweeks.
Mane posed more of a goal threat on the left flank, almost latching onto a couple of inviting through-balls and registering more penalty box touches than any player on show.
Unlucky as he was not to get on the scoresheet in this encounter having made a number of promising runs in the right channels, it is also now ten blanks in 13 appearances for the Senegalese midfielder in the Premier League.
Shaqiri buzzed around on the right wing, meanwhile, grabbing a deserved goal from an Alexander-Arnold cross to cap a fine display from the Swiss midfielder. Whether he will be involved against the Gunners or City remains to be seen, however, given Klopp’s comments about a 4-2-3-1 and the lack of protection it affords the back four.
Alexander-Arnold and Robertson were their usual gung-ho selves down the flanks, while van Dijk underscored his attacking threat with some adventurous surges into the Newcastle half and three penalty box touches.
Dejan Lovren (£4.9m) was on the scoresheet for the first time this season, meanwhile, lashing home a loose ball to give Liverpool the lead and top-scoring with 15 FPL points as a result.
Klopp gave an update on missing pair James Milner (£5.6m) and Alberto Moreno (£4.2m) after the match:
Millie [James Milner) has a little muscle problem so we couldn’t fix it quick enough, obviously, similar to Alberto Moreno [who has] some back problems.
Rafael Benitez, whose six changes included a rest for Salomon Rondon (£5.8m), spoke about the heaviest defeat of his tenure on Tyneside:
Against a very good team, you have to take the few chances that you have. We didn’t do it – and then we paid for our mistakes.
We have too many games and we needed fresh legs.
We needed to be sure the gameplan could be right and I think we had the energy to do what we wanted. You could see the first half it was there but it wasn’t enough.
Obviously, we play against a very good team but there are two key moments in the game: the first goal – we made a mistake, and the second goal – a soft penalty that gave them control. For us, it was very difficult to react.
The soft penalty in the game made the difference, we were in the game 1-0 at half-time, but when we conceded the second goal it was more difficult for us to react against a very good team.
Liverpool XI (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Lovren, Robertson (Clyne 82′); Henderson, Wijnaldum(Fabinho 62′); Shaqiri, Firmino (Sturridge 69′), Mane; Salah.
Newcastle United XI (5-3-2): Dubravka; Yedlin, Fernandez, Lascelles, Dummett, Ritchie (Murphy 81′); Hayden, Diame, Kenedy (Longstaff 73′); Joselu, Muto.
Leicester City 2-1 Manchester City
- Goals: Marc Albrighton (£5.1m), Ricardo Pereira (£5.1m) | Bernardo Silva (£7.5m)
- Assists: Jamie Vardy (£8.8m) | Sergio Aguero (£11.2m)
A “freak” home defeat in Gameweek 18 has become something more worrying for owners of Manchester City’s assets after the reigning champions succumbed to a second successive loss – and their third reverse in four league matches – at the King Power Stadium on Boxing Day.
One shot on target in the second half of this latest defeat sums up their efforts in Leicester, though Pep Guardiola made a fair point after the match when he said that the return of the likes of Danilo (£5.1m), Kevin De Bruyne (£9.7m), David Silva (£8.5m) and Sergio Aguero (£11.2m) returning from injury may have disrupted the rhythm of the side.
Maybe we don’t create many chances but sometimes it is not easy to create a lot with players coming back from injury.
They need time and minutes in their legs. Apart from the five or ten minutes at the end of the first half when we conceded two or three chances in a row – because sometimes it happens – the rest was no big issue.
We are going to miss a little bit of the final pass, the final assist, the last shot and teams are punishing us: Townsend [last week], today it was another fantastic goal.
Raheem Sterling (£11.4m) certainly looks well below-par and yesterday saw a worrying trend continue as he failed to register a single shot on goal. The England man has only had four attempts in as many Gameweeks (compared to Salah’s 12 in the same period, by way of example), despite his continued prominence in the opposition area: he and Leroy Sane (£9.6m) registered a combined 21 penalty box touches in yesterday’s defeat, to little end result.
Sane was more of a threat on the left flank and had a couple of efforts on goal, also creating a presentable chance that Aguero spurned in the first half.
The Argentinean striker worked tirelessly up front and set up Bernardo Silva‘s (£7.5m) opening goal but it is perhaps fair to say the City front three are missing the creativity of a fit De Bruyne and David Silva in central midfield.
“El Mago” made his return from injury in the last 20 minutes of this match, while De Bruyne looked rusty on his first Premier League start of the season.
It may well be, as Guardiola said in his comments above, that in a few weeks time City are firing on all cylinders in the centre of the park when the likes of De Bruyne and Silva get back up to speed.
Bernardo certainly looks like he is missing the more creative players around him and this was, goal aside, another ineffective showing from the Portugal international.
Ilkay Gundogan (£5.4m) fared little better than John Stones (£5.3m) had against Palace in the shielding defensive midfield role and for all their attacking talent, it is fair to say City are missing the presence of Fernandinho (£5.4m) in the centre of the park.
The sidelined Brazilian has certainly been a miss from a defensive perspective, even if City’s problems at the back stem from before his injury.
While the Citizens were eventually downed by a rocket from Ricardo Pereira (£5.1m), the goal came from a poor header out from Sane and Ederson (£5.7m) had previously been called upon to make some excellent stops to keep the Sky Blues in the match.
Guardiola mitigated his side’s defensive woes, however:
We started the season with cleans sheets, we conceded five goals in I don’t know how many games. It was incredible how stable it was – [other teams] shot one or two a game during that period.
It’s quite similar right now. I don’t know how many time they shot but, with the exception of the last five-10 minutes, of the first half, in the second half I don’t know many times they shot.
But right now we are conceding goals and it’s one of the big issues. We have a specific quality of players. We have players to play with a ball and it’s not a team built to just defend a lot the time. But you have to make that effort to change that dynamic.
Danilo (£5.1m) and Fabian Delph (£5.3m) were both poor at full-back and Delph’s afternoon turned from bad to worse when he was shown a straight red card for a dangerous tackle late in the game.
Oleksandr Zinchenko (£4.7m) will now presumably come in at left-back for the next two league matches in Delph’s stead.
Guardiola’s below quotes about “changing the dynamic” possibly just refer to reinstating a winning mentality but there is the possibility of personnel and system changes ahead of the trip to Southampton in Gameweek 20.
The City boss said:
What we have to do is change the dynamic to winning games because we make a good performance. It doesn’t matter where we finish, the joy and pleasure of how many things they did in the recent past means I will never doubt those guys.
I have to reflect, think about what the team needs and how to help them. That is what I am concerned about in the next few days. I need to help the players to come back with the way we want to play and try to come again. After, we are trying to win again.
Perhaps the most telling lines came from Bernardo, who suggested a drop in confidence among the City squad:
After losing against Chelsea and then Crystal Palace, the confidence levels drop a little bit.
We lost a little bit of control emotionally and in the second half we tried to go after the game, to create chances and score goals, and it was another great goal from them, for Ricardo.
It’s the toughest time since I came here, we can’t deny it. To lose three in the last four is not good.
We were two points ahead of Liverpool and are now seven behind, so it’s not a good moment for us. We need to start winning games as soon as we can.
A word on Leicester, though, who have followed up their win over Chelsea with another unexpected success against the 2017/18 title winners.
This was a deserved win for the Foxes, who had gone close through Jamie Vardy (£8.8m), James Maddison (£6.8m) and Hamza Choudhury (£4.3m) in the first half.
Those three players were impressive, with Vardy setting up Marc Albrighton‘s (£5.1m) equaliser on 18 minutes.
Pereira was the stand-out asset, though, not just for his goal but also his shackling of Sane on the City left. Wes Morgan (£4.5m) also shone at centre-back.
Leicester’s assets are now the all-the-more appealing for the enticing-looking home fixture against Cardiff City, but Claude Puel warned of a completely different match in Gameweek 20 with the onus on the Foxes to attack:
We play against Cardiff in the next game, it will be a different game. They will play with a lot of direct play, second balls, and aerial battles, and it will be very tough.
It will be tough to play against this team, we know we need to adapt against any team.
Sometimes we need to defend a lot, like the two last games, and other times, we need to have the ball, to find the space, and to move the opponent.
Palace’s 0-0 draw with Cardiff yesterday, just days after their own victory over Manchester City, is perhaps a cautionary tale.
Leicester City XI (4-3-3): Schmeichel; Ricardo, Morgan, Maguire, Chilwell; Ndidi, Choudhury (Gray 63’), Mendy; Albrighton, Vardy (Okazaki 88’), Maddison (Simpson 78’).
Manchester City XI (4-3-3): Ederson; Danilo, Stones, Laporte, Delph; De Bruyne (D Silva 70’), Gundogan, B Silva (Mahrez 83’); Sterling, Aguero, Sane.
Manchester United 3-1 Huddersfield Town
- Goals: Nemanja Matic (£5.0m), Paul Pogba (£8.0m) x2 | Zanka (£4.4m)
- Assist: Ander Herrera (£5.0m), Jesse Lingard (£6.8m) | Steve Mounie (£5.8m)
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer suggested that he could have several attacking assets back for the visit of Bournemouth in Gameweek 20 after this latest success under his stewardship.
Anthony Martial (£7.4m) missed out on this 3-1 win over Huddersfield through illness but the Norwegian coach suggested he, Alexis Sanchez (£10.0m) and Romelu Lukaku (£10.7m) could be available for this weekend.
Solskjaer said:
Hopefully the front three with Romelu, Alexis and Anthony – that is not a bad three to have ready. So towards the end [of a game], when you are 2-0 up, 3-0 up, if you can put players with pace on, then that makes a difference.
So when you score three at home but you know you have three lads awaiting to get on, then that’s great.
I spoke to Alexis. He’s back. He came in and had two days of good fitness work. Hopefully, he can join training with the ball as soon as we get back in again now. He’s touch and go for Bournemouth but probably, well definitely, be involved against Newcastle.
We had Christmas Day off and he was in training, eager to get back on the pitch. He’s a workaholic, it seems like.
[Martial] must have had a bad chef over Christmas – he has fallen ill. If it is food poisoning or if it is something else, I don’t know.
Whether Lukaku or Sanchez could force their way back into the side with Marcus Rashford (£7.2m) in such good form is another question, of course, though the England forward was perhaps most effective when he switched to the left flank in this contest.
While Rashford left Old Trafford without an attacking return yesterday, no FPL asset has had as many shots on target than the United forward over the last four Gameweeks.
In truth, United weren’t as exhilarating as they had been at Cardiff, but Paul Pogba (£7.9m) turned in another fine display to continue his renaissance as a viable mid-price Fantasy midfielder.
The Frenchman had more shots on goal than any other player in this fixture – mostly from distance, it must be said – and scored his first two league goals of the season that didn’t come from a penalty-kick situation (Pogba having netted a rebound against Everton in Gameweek 10 after his spot-kick had been saved).
No United player made more key passes yesterday than the former Juventus man, either.
Solskjaer said of Pogba:
Yeah, great to see him score a goal again and he has created goals last week at Cardiff. And now he scores them and he will be even better for getting through 90 minutes and will be fitter and fitter.
Jesse Lingard (£6.8m) moved over to the left flank in Martial’s absence with Juan Mata (£6.2m) deputising on the opposite wing, though neither player was perhaps quite as effective (or eye-catching from a Fantasy perspective) as their aforementioned colleagues.
Clean sheets continue to elude the Red Devils, however, and defensive solidity is something Solskjaer will need to work on in the coming weeks.
David de Gea (£5.7m) made a superb stop to deny Laurent Depoitre (£5.1m), while Terence Kongolo (£4.3m) wasted a glorious opportunity and Philip Billing (£4.5m) fired into the side netting long before Zanka (£4.4m) prodded in a consolation.
The Terriers’ display indeed prompted Solskjaer into an early second-half change, which he explained after full-time:
You want some experience and some guts. With Ash [Young] and Ander [Herrera] you get players who have been around the block.
I thought we struggled when we started the second half so it just settled the whole thing down.
David Wagner said of his side’s efforts:
We have a problem to solve and that’s to use our clear-cut chances and be clinical; this is a problem that we have to work hard for.
Everything else between both goals that the players have done is very good; the effort, determination and spirit. The players did it in their way.
We had the best chance in the first half from Kongolo, the last chance in the first half from Philip Billing, where we at least have to the equaliser and I think the second half was even better.
Manchester United XI (4-3-3): De Gea; Dalot (Young 52′), Jones, Lindelof, Shaw; Matic, Fred (Herrera 52′), Pogba; Mata (Gomes 80′), Lingard, Rashford.
Huddersfield Town XI (4-4-1-1): Lossl; Jorgensen, Schindler, Kongolo, Durm; Kachunga (Lowe 56′), Billing, Hadergjonaj, Mbenza (Quaner 61′); Pritchard; Depoitre (Mounie 73′).
