Liverpool kept their title bid on track at Craven Cottage on Sunday with an unexpectedly close-run win over relegation-threatened Fulham.
There was further joy for owners and (especially) captainers of Sadio Mane as the Senegalese midfielder registered his third double-digit haul in four Gameweeks and drew level on Premier League goals with Mohamed Salah for the season.
The Egyptian, however, blanked for the sixth time in eight top-flight games.
There was to be no clean sheet either for those Fantasy managers backing Liverpool’s defence after a calamitous passage of play allowed Scott Parker’s side to temporarily draw level.
There’s plenty to discuss in our Scout Notes below.
Fulham 1-2 Liverpool
- Goals: Ryan Babel (£5.5m) | Sadio Mane (£13.4m), James Milner (£5.6m)
- Assists: None | Roberto Firmino (£9.2m), Sadio Mane (£9.9m)
There was a depressingly familiar feel to Mohamed Salah‘s (£13.4m) performance in west London on Sunday.
For those not watching the match, the Egyptian’s underlying attacking statistics would have caught the eye.
Top of all players on show at Craven Cottage for penalty box touches, overall goal attempts, shots in the box and efforts on target, the data analysts amongst us would have been impressed by Salah’s numbers.
In reality, the Egypt international rarely looked like hitting the back of the net.
Only in the final 15 minutes did Salah pose any kind of serious threat but even when afforded a one-on-one opportunity with the error-prone Sergio Rico (£4.4m) just before full-time, FPL’s leading points-scorer (still) of 2018/19 lacked any kind of conviction with his finishing.
The Liverpool winger fluffed an early chance wide and fired in another two efforts that Rico should have gobbled up with ease – though the Spanish custodian made a hash of both shots, with one error proving costly.
Even aside from his tame shooting, Salah frustrated.
The Egyptian’s touch was awful and he failed with all five of his attempted take-ons, getting tackled on nine occasions – more than any other player in Gameweek 31.
A miserable afternoon for the 44% of Fantasy managers who own him, particularly the 1.7 million who captained him, was summed up by Liverpool’s winning goal.
Rico hauled down Sadio Mane (£9.9m) after spilling Salah’s 79th-minute shot to give the Reds the chance to retake the lead from the penalty spot but it was James Milner (£5.6m), on as a substitute just seven minutes earlier, who stepped up to win the game for Jurgen Klopp’s side.
The Liverpool boss shared his thoughts on the Reds’ spot-kick running order after full-time:
Mo scored a lot of goals and then he got the penalties as well but when Millie is on the pitch, I think it makes sense. And so, wonderful. Doubts, no, but even Millie is a human being and you can fail. But, you know, very, very good.
What to do with Salah is now a serious question that many Fantasy managers will have to ask themselves.
For those with the Free Hit and/or Wildcard chips still in their locker, the Egyptian is, some would argue, perhaps dispensable for Double Gameweeks 32 and 35.
Whether he remains a staple of Fantasy squads outside of these dates (and after Blank Gameweek 33) is another matter.
Salah will undoubtedly deliver attacking returns between now and the end of the season, maybe even posting a double-digit haul or two in the run-in.
Some attractive fixtures (Huddersfield at home in Gameweek 36, in particular) and his overall/effective ownership are further points to consider and it is this “fear factor” that deters many of us from selling him.
A blank against the worst defence in the Premier League may have been the tipping point for a sizeable percentage of Fantasy bosses, however, and his average FPL score over the last eight Gameweeks is now 3.5 points per match.
Mane, in contrast, is in red-hot form.
The Senegalese midfielder averages 8.9 points per game over the same period and now has 11 goals in his last 11 competitive starts, including nine in as many Gameweeks in the Premier League.
Mane’s underlying stats away from home haven’t been great of late and again, on Sunday, he hauled despite registering so-so numbers: two shots, one key pass.
There could well have been other attacking returns, though, despite these unremarkable KPIs: it was Mane that sent Salah through on goal in the dying stages, while the Senegal international himself hit the woodwork with a header from a Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.6m) corner.
Quite simply, the stats tell only part of the story and don’t begin to reflect Mane’s current confidence and clinical streak in front of goal.
While there was an element of fortune about his “Fantasy assist” for Milner’s penalty, Mane’s goal was superbly constructed: the former Southampton winger trading passes with Roberto Firmino (£9.2m) and meeting the Brazilian’s cut-back to put the visitors 1-0 up after 25 minutes.
How many Fantasy managers missed out on captaincy points or Mane’s 13-point haul altogether because of his absence from training ground photos on Friday is an intriguing question.
Liverpool in general made hard work of a side that had conceded two or more goals in all ten of their previous league fixtures in 2019.
The Reds’ recent away form is something of a worry and this latest display was similar in style to their previous league matches on the road this calendar year.
While Liverpool average 3.4 goals per league game at Anfield in 2019, they are scoring at a rate of 0.83 goals per match on their travels since the turn of the year.
The Reds rank a lowly 11th for total attempts on goal over their last six away games, joint-eighth for shots on target, sixth for efforts in the box and joint-fifth for big chances.
They rank in the top three for all of the above categories over their last six Premier League fixtures at Anfield.
Klopp acknowledged that Milner’s penalty came at just the right time before any panic could set in:
I didn’t see us panic, that’s right – I liked how we reacted – but we needed a penalty for that situation.
That doesn’t say we were sensational, the boys are human beings. I was sure we would not panic, we would not show the nerves you are all waiting for. We are long enough in this situation. We know it’s difficult for other teams to beat us, that always gives us the opportunity pretty much to win it.
Most of the draws we had, we were closer to winning the game. That gives us confidence, that we know another chance will come.
Much of the league leaders’ early threat came from their full-backs, in particular Alexander-Arnold.
The Liverpool right-back conjured up memories of his performance against Watford with some of his teasing deliveries, with Joel Matip (£4.9m) wasting a free header from one Alexander-Arnold corner and Mane hitting the bar with another.
His distribution from open play was also commendable, with the England defender finding Salah in the box (who predictably took too many touches) with one pass early on and then producing a superb cross-field pass to Andrew Robertson (£6.9m) minutes later.
Robertson ought to have done better when he broke into the box on ten minutes but could only find Rico’s arms with a pass along the six-yard line.
The Scotland left-back could have had an assist himself later when Georginio Wijnaldum (£5.5m) headed his cross over.
Virgil van Dijk (£6.6m) was again prominent at set-piece situations, drawing Rico into a save with one header and very nearly capitalising when the unconvincing Fulham goalkeeper spilt a Salah shot at his feet.
Not only was there not to be any attacking returns for owners of Liverpool’s defenders, there was to be no clean sheet either.
Fulham had barely troubled Alisson (£6.0m) before their 73rd-minute leveller and the Cottagers’ goal was all Liverpool’s own making.
Milner’s skied clearance towards his own goal put van Dijk in trouble, with the Dutch centre-half producing a tame header back to a hesitant Alisson and allowing Ryan Babel (£5.5m) to almost apologetically score against his old club.
Klopp said:
We let them back a bit into the game, with counter-attacks and passing the wrong ball. It’s just the intensity of the competition, it’s nothing to do with nerves. Trent passed the ball into the middle, they get the ball, pass only one time and then Babel is against one or two [defenders]. These situations hurt, but it’s normal.
The goal they scored, I thought a little bit we begged for it – there were two or three moments where we asked for it. There were two or three moments not exactly like that but they had their best moments in that period of the game and then finally they scored.
But then I actually saw the reaction of my players and I’m really pleased with that. It was a good reaction. After they got the equaliser, we were again much clearer than we were before the equaliser. So, all good, a good reaction. Not a perfect football game but, in a difficult week for us, a sensational result.
For Fulham, this was another battling display under their interim manager.
Parker kept faith with a 4-2-3-1 set-up but brought Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (£4.4m), Jean Michael Seri (£4.9m), Timothy Fosu-Mensah (£4.5m) and Floyd Ayite (£4.3m) in at the expense of Kevin McDonald (£4.2m), Ryan Sessegnon (£6.0m), Denis Odoi (£4.4m) and Havard Nordtveit (£4.5m).
Calum Chambers (£4.2m) moved back to centre-half, meanwhile.
Manchester City next face the Cottagers in Gameweek 32 and there have been signs over Parker’s three-match reign that they won’t quite be the pushovers they were towards the end of Claudio Ranieri’s tenure.
Ultimately, though, they have shipped seven goals in three Gameweeks under Parker and rank bottom for shots on target and efforts in the box conceded during that time.
Joe Bryan (£4.8m) again impressed at left-back, however, and whoever plays on City’s right in a fortnight’s time will likely face a sterner test than their counterpart on the opposite flank.
Parker said of his side’s display and of the forthcoming clash with Pep Guardiola’s side:
First half, we set off a bit and tried to stay in the game and we worked on that this week and the second half as the game moved forward we put them under pressure and got a goal, albeit from a mistake.
We played against the best counter-attacking team in Europe, a front three which are pretty deadly. We need to stay in the game and we did that first half and there was some massive positives in the second half where the players took the front foot and we got back into the game, but it’s a shame we couldn’t hold on.
We worked all week on a gameplan, the boys have been superb in understanding and applying themselves daily and they’ve been first class. We’ll do the same for Man City.
Klopp meanwhile provided an update on Jordan Henderson (£5.3m), who missed out with an ankle injury:
Hendo will go to the national team; two or three days at Melwood to do the rehab, but it looks positive.
I think he is in contact with Gareth [Southgate] so when he can train in that moment, he will go to the national team. If he plays, Gareth will decide then, but it’s really positive.
He was still not able to play today but it was not that serious and now, in three or four days, he should be fine.
Fulham XI (4-2-3-1): Rico; Fosu-Mensah (Christie 74′), Chambers, Ream, Bryan; Anguissa, Seri (Sessegnon 65′); Cairney (Kebano 82′), Ayite, Babel; Mitrovic.
Liverpool XI (4-3-3): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, van Dijk, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Fabinho, Lallana (Milner 73′); Salah (Sturridge 90′), Firmino (Origi 72′), Mane.
