The Gameweek 31 analysis is wrapped up with Scout Notes on Monday’s clash between Leeds United and Liverpool.
Any numbers and graphics you see in this article are taken from our Premium Members Area, where you can access Opta player and team data from every single Premier League fixture.
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JOTA AND GAKPO STAKE A CLAIM
Mohamed Salah (£12.8m) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.3m) cemented their places into Gameweek 32 teams on Monday night, each playing a part in two of Liverpool’s six goals in the demolition of Leeds.
Alexander-Arnold has now delivered six assists since the Boxing Day restart, twice as many as any other FPL defender.
And Salah’s brace at Elland Road took him joint-top of the midfielders’ points standings, level with Gabriel Martinelli (£6.9m).
For managers considering a Liverpool triple-up, whether on a Free Hit or otherwise, Monday’s win may have upset the apple cart.
Andrew Robertson (£6.8m) was the nominal third Red for many FPL managers before the game, featuring in our own Scout Picks ‘bus team’ and former winner Simon March’s selection, but double-digit hauls from Cody Gakpo (£7.6m) and Diogo Jota (£8.7m) have got some FPL managers thinking.
The ongoing problem is the six-into-three attacking conundrum that Jurgen Klopp now faces on a weekly basis, although it may be some time before Luis Diaz (£7.8m) is fit enough for a start and Roberto Firmino (£8.0m) is winding down his Liverpool career with mostly late cameos.
“Yeah, super important, so Luis is back. He’s now lacking rhythm, which is normal, [and] a bit of sharpness, but that’s normal as well. In training sessions you cannot get there to the final degree of sharpness, so we now try to just help him [get there] step by step back really into the team [and] give him minutes. It’s just nice to see him play to be honest. We missed him so long, so it’s just nice to see him being involved again.” – Jurgen Klopp on Luis Diaz, who made his first appearance in six months on Monday
Darwin Nunez (£8.7m) is the biggest immediate threat to the Salah-Gakpo-Jota frontline, emerging from the bench in West Yorkshire to grab Liverpool’s sixth of the evening.
The hope for Gameweek 32 Free Hitters is that Klopp does exactly what he did on Monday and names an unchanged XI for the visit of travel-sick Nottingham Forest this weekend.
But there are no guarantees of that (a Friday deadline nixes any hope of early team news from Anfield) and, if you’re thinking of bringing these Liverpool B-listers in using normal, permanent transfers rather than as part of a Free Hit, there is even more medium-term uncertainty given the schedule that Klopp’s troops now have:
Above: Liverpool’s upcoming schedule via Legomane, looking at the rest days in between games
Rotation could hit hard in Double Gameweek 34, for example, when there’s a Sunday-Wednesday-Saturday turnaround.
“Yeah, [he was] injured too long, same like Lucho [Diaz], and that’s obviously tricky. Diogo was involved in a lot of top, top moments, won the ball back and set up Mo’s first. Still, you can see there is space for improvement and he has some moments where you can see the rhythm maybe [is] not 100 per cent. The front three played tonight – and we could’ve had a completely different front three – the way they defended tonight, that was an important part of it, because they all can play football, but we need to understand it starts there.” – Jurgen Klopp on Diogo Jota
TRENT’S POSITION – AND THE EFFECT ON ROBERTSON
LEEDS CAPITULATE… AGAIN
Gameweek 29: 0-0 after 35 minutes, lost 4-1.
Gameweek 30: 1-0 up after 45 minutes, lost 5-1.
Gameweek 31: 0-0 after 35 minutes, lost 6-1.
Leeds have looked very decent for the bulk of the first half in recent matches against Arsenal, Crystal Palace and Liverpool, only to fold like a deck of cards in all three games.
Liverpool hadn’t had a shot on target until Gakpo broke the deadlock on Monday night but went on to carve out four big chances and around 2.5 expected goals (xG).
The three capitulations now mean that Leeds have the worst defensive record in the division in terms of goals conceded (60), while only Southampton have kept fewer clean sheets (five).
Fulham are the next team to try and take advantage of that soft underbelly when they entertain the Whites in Gameweek 32.
Luis Sinisterra (£6.5m) at least made it two goals from his last three starts when pouncing on a Liverpool error to temporarily reduce the arrears.
