FPL Gameweek 4 review: Haaland treble, Salah blank, Zinchenko injury

A little later than usual, we dissect the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from Saturday’s top-flight fixtures. 

For those who prefer a more numbers-based recap, we also have a statistical breakdown of Saturday’s Gameweek 4 action.

• READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 4 Sunday review: Kane scores twice but misses penalty
• READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 4: Sunday’s goals, assists, bonus and statistics

The numbers and heatmaps you see in this article are from our Premium Members Area, where you can access Opta player and team data for every single Premier League fixture.

LIVERPOOL 9-0 BOURNEMOUTH

Roberto Firmino‘s (£8.0m) 22-point haul in Saturday’s win over Bournemouth was not only the highest individual FPL Gameweek score of the season but also over a third of what he managed in the whole of 2021/22.

We’ve seen enough of Firmino in recent years to know that he is capable of producing a monster score (Watford in Gameweek 8 of last season for example) before reverting to underwhelming type but what it does do is lay down the gauntlet to the suspended Darwin Nunez (£8.9m), who will return in Gameweek 6. With Diogo Jota (£8.9m) also in the final stages of recovery from injury, short-term competition is fierce again up top for the Reds.

“In a bunch of outstanding football players and top performances today; loved Robbo’s impact, for example, [he] makes all the difference for us when he’s that lively, but Bobby, yes. He played, I know that’s not the moment to talk about individual performances when you lose at Man United 2-1, but he played a really good game there. Imagine a game against United where we have near 70 per cent possession without Bobby, it would probably have been 49 [per cent], or whatever, so he was everywhere, but today was a completely different game.

“So for him, again, high up the pitch, more between the centre-halves, dropping, yes, but in different areas between the different lines and arriving in the box, being part of the massive chance in the first half when it was the little one-two with Harvey I think, backheel – that’s Bobby Firmino how we all know him. For him, if you talk about what kind you get off the chest, this was a massive game today. So, and the timing couldn’t have been better, to be honest.” – Jurgen Klopp

Most key Liverpool assets filled their boots against sorry Bournemouth on Saturday, with defenders Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.5m), Andrew Robertson (£6.9m) and Virgil van Dijk (£6.5m) supplementing clean sheets with attacking returns and Luiz Diaz (£8.1m) walking away with a 14-point haul. Most that is, except for Mohamed Salah (£13.0m).

In a season in which there has been plenty of talk about a possible reduction in goalmouth proximity due to Darwin’s arrival, he was ironically at his most dangerous in the Bournemouth game.

MOHAMED SALAH IN 2022/23

‘Variance’/luck can only really explain the two misses below and a blank in a 9-0 win. While there may be a longer-term debate to be had and analysis to be done about Salah’s value and potentially diminishing threat alongside Darwin, transferring the Egyptian out – over 270,000 have done this already – only based on Saturday’s three-pointer does seem short-sighted.

Diaz overtook Salah in the FPL points table after Gameweek 4, although it should be said that his expected goal involvement (xGI) for the season is not far off a third of his Egyptian teammate’s (1.21 v 3.20).

Liverpool probably won’t get an easier league fixture than this all year, with the Cherries looking like a team well out of their depth. Bournemouth’s survival won’t be based on results against Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City, of course, but owners of Pedro Neto (£5.3m) and co will be hoping that their hosts’ confidence is shot to pieces come Gameweek 5 and that the much-needed new recruits still haven’t arrived.

Scott Parker does at least have star striker Dominic Solanke (£5.8m) and club captain Lloyd Kelly (£4.5m) to come back into the side in midweek, with the former only the bench on Saturday and the latter absent with a minor injury.

“At this present moment in time, yeah, for sure [it was the lowest point of my job]. Definitely. But where we currently are, I can see some more, to be honest with you.” – Scott Parker

Liverpool XI: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold (Clark, 83), Gomez, van Dijk, Fabinho, Robertson (Tsimikas, 69), Henderson (Milner, 69), Elliott (Carvalho, h/t), Diaz, Salah, Firmino (Bajcetic, 70).

AFC Bournemouth XI: Travers, Smith (Solanke, h/t), Mepham (Bevan, 82), Senesi, Zemura, Lerma, Cook (Pearson, 77, Marcondes, 82), Tavernier, Christie (Billing, h/t), Anthony, Moore.

MANCHESTER CITY 4-2 CRYSTAL PALACE

Touches, smouches. Erling Haaland (£11.8m) got on the ball on fewer occasions (16) than Crystal Palace’s second-half substitute Chris Richards (£4.5m) in Saturday’s six-goal thriller at the Etihad but still ended Gameweek 4 with the match-ball and top of the FPL points table.