Maddison and Vardy injury latest as Salah gets set for more FPL sales

LEICESTER CITY 1-0 LIVERPOOL

• Goal: Ademola Lookman (£6.0m)
• Assist: Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£4.4m)
• Penalty miss: Mohamed Salah (£13.0m)
• Penalty save: Kasper Schmeichel (£4.8m)
• Bonus: 3 – Schmeichel, 2 – Daniel Amartey (£3.8m), 1 – Timothy Castagne (£5.3m), Dewsbury-Hall

Liverpool suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat at Leicester City, with Mohamed Salah‘s first half penalty miss later punished by substitute Ademola Lookman. Jurgen Klopp’s side remain six points adrift of Manchester City.

Our Scout Notes article reflects on the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from the fixture.

SALAH BLANK WORSENED BY PENALTY MISS

Not only did star man Salah blank for the second match in a row, he finished the match without any points because of a poor spot-kick that was saved comfortably by Kasper Schmeichel. His headed rebound hit the crossbar and the chance was over. Expectations are always high for the much-captained Egyptian, whose phenomenal season has placed him far ahead of every other FPL attacking asset – 15 goals, 25 goal involvements and 170 points.

However, 1.5 million managers sold him because of Liverpool’s postponed Gameweek 19 match against Leeds United. They feared the worst here, having seen the ease at which Leicester conceded six goals at Man City just two days prior. Many nails were bitten, many sofas hidden behind, yet these managers will now feel justified for selling Salah ahead of a tough trip to Chelsea and the several Gameweeks about to be missed because of African Cup of Nations duty.

At a time when FPL managers were debating how to navigate Salah’s departure, this well-timed reminder that he’s only human may push many more into a sale (he’s second for transfers out ahead of Gameweek 20), especially if Son Heung-min (£10.5m) ends up with a Double Gameweek in his absence – although this is pure speculation right now.

“There’s not a little bit of blame or whatever. He [Salah] scores usually from these situations but tonight he didn’t. It was a little bit like the whole game was. Mo is part of the team and usually he is better in this situation like the team is usually better in a football game. Tonight we weren’t and that’s why we lost.” – Jurgen Klopp

LIVERPOOL FAIL TO SCORE FOR THE FIRST TIME

The league’s joint-top scorers found themselves up against a supposedly poor defence – one with just a single clean sheet since the season’s opening weekend and with midfielder Wilfred Ndidi (£4.8m) forced into the back line due to a series of centre back injuries.

Such is the nature of football, this same defence ensured Liverpool failed to score in a league game for the first time since March – ending a streak of 28 consecutive matches.

In fairness, Liverpool did have 21 shots and an expected goals (xG) tally of 2.33. Salah mustered five attempts from inside the box, exploiting a season-long Leicester weakness that saw them enter Gameweek 20 with the second-most shots conceded within their own penalty area. With two games fewer than first-placed Newcastle United.

Sadio Mane (£11.8m) totalled five shots of his own, including a big miss at 0-0 where his own touches set up a promising one-on-one chance with the goalkeeper. He blazed it over the bar. Additionally, the 28.2% ownership of Diogo Jota (£8.1m) were disappointed by his blank and an xG of just 0.30.

In attack, Kostas Tsimikas (£3.7m) looked more threatening than Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.3m). With three chances created, a share of set-piece duties and an average position more advanced than his fellow full-back, the incredibly low price of Tsimikas would surely have more appeal if he wasn’t simply filling in for the suspended Andrew Robertson (£7.0m).

“The story is actually nice – one of the guys who was constantly talking about how we should not play the 26th and 28th plays only on the 28th and is losing against the team who plays on the 26th and 28th. Funny story, I know.” – Jurgen Klopp

IN-FORM MADDISON LIMPS OFF INJURED

For the Foxes, their xG of 0.59 summarises what sort of match it was – staying strong defensively, before picking the right moments to attack. Their graph of average positions shows they sat much deeper than Liverpool and Lookman’s winner was their only shot on target. However, the win wasn’t a fluke. They frustrated Klopp’s men from start to finish, lining up with a diamond midfield that placed James Maddison (£6.8m) behind a strike partnership of Jamie Vardy (£10.4m) and Kelechi Iheanacho (£6.9m).

Maddison has been in marvellous form of late, bagging 53 points and four double-digit hauls during his previous five matches. These four goals and five assists placed him on many FPL managers’ radars ahead of imminent meetings with Norwich City (H), Burnley (a) and Brighton and Hove Albion (H) – as well as the potential of their two postponements being rearranged for soon.

Instead, he fell to the pitch in the 67th minute. Holding his calf, Maddison limped off to be replaced by Marc Albrighton (£5.2m). Strong midfield options are disappearing quite quickly at the moment – AFCON will remove a few appealing options, Conor Gallagher (£6.1m) is rumoured to have missed Crystal Palace’s win over Norwich because of Covid-19 and there’s also uncertainty over Emile Smith Rowe‘s (£6.1m) starting place security at Arsenal. A Maddison injury would be sad to see.

Vardy – back in the Leicester starting 11 for the first time since Gameweek 14 – was also seen limping at several points near the end but Rodgers had made all three substitutions by that point.

“We’ll see how they are, they’re both a bit sore.” – Brendan Rodgers on the Maddison and Vardy knocks

Leicester City XI: Schmeichel; Castagne, Amartey, Ndidi, Thomas; Dewsbury-Hall, Soumare, Choudhury (Tielemans 56′); Maddison (Albrighton 68′); Iheanacho (Lookman 56′), Vardy

Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, van Dijk, Tsimikas; Fabinho (Milner 64′), Henderson (Firmino 70′), Oxlade-Chamberlain (Keita 55′); Salah, Jota, Mane