Mohamed Salah (£12.9m) reached his latest Fantasy Premier League (FPL) century as Liverpool saw off Aston Villa 2-0 on Saturday evening.
Arne Slot’s side made it six clean sheets in 11 games – but Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.0m) didn’t benefit from the shut-out points.
The right-back’s injury is one of the talking points in our first Scout Notes of Gameweek 11.
ALEXANDER-ARNOLD INJURY LATEST
Alexander-Arnold lasted just 24 minutes of the late-evening match at Anfield.
The England international appeared to be clutching his hamstring when tracking back on a Villa break, needing treatment soon after. No chances were taken and Conor Bradley (£4.7m) came on in his place.
At least it wasn’t the ‘sniper shot’ variety of a hamstring injury but the severity of it remains unknown.
“That’s difficult to say how serious it is but it’s always serious if a player goes out in the first half. Not because I didn’t like him but because he asked for it himself.
“He didn’t ask for it because he was tired, he asked for it because he felt something. That’s first of all not a good sign but it is always difficult so close after the game to tell you exactly what it is. Let’s wait and see.
“I would be surprised if we will see him playing for the England national team this week but hopefully he can.” – Arne Slot on Trent Alexander-Arnold’s injury
Much to the irritation of Alexander-Arnold’s owners, Liverpool went on to keep a shut-out without him.
Virgil van Dijk (£6.2m) now sits atop the FPL defenders’ points table, with Ibrahima Konate (£5.3m) in fifth. The Frenchman – excellent again here – has started every league match since ousting Jarell Quansah (£4.0m) from the side in Gameweek 1.
Andrew Robertson (£5.9m) was back in the starting XI, meanwhile. He responded with a solid showing after some sub-par recent displays but the rotation with Kostas Tsimikas (£4.6m) will likely continue in a busy December.
ALISSON V KELLEHER
Caoimhin Kelleher (£4.4m) impressed again, too, making a couple of smart stops.
Make no mistake, though – Alisson (£5.4m) will be back between the posts as soon as he’s injury-free.
“First of all, Alisson needs to become fit and I’ve always been quite clear and that’s always been the position of Alisson that he is, and will be, our first goalkeeper if he is fit. But therefore he first needs to be it but Caoimhin [Kelleher] has done outstanding last season and this season again as well. But the moment Alisson will be fit, he will be our first goalkeeper.” – Arne Slot
SALAH’S INTERNATIONAL BREAK BREATHER
Salah ensured a seventh double-digit haul in 11 starts when pouncing on a poor Diego Carlos (£4.5m) header and racing clear to score.
The Egyptian had earlier inadvertently teed up Darwin Nunez‘s (£7.1m) opener, the striker pouncing on the loose ball after Salah had been hauled down by Leon Bailey (£6.3m).
Darwin should have made it two assists for FPL’s leading points scorer but blazed a 31st-minute chance over.
The Uruguayan wasted another glorious headed chance later in the game but was otherwise pretty decent. He should get another couple of league starts at least before Diogo Jota (£7.2m) returns from injury but Slot has used a 4-4-2 box and Luis Diaz (£7.7m) up front in midweek games over the last fortnight, so there are no cast-iron guarantees.
Salah is now only two double-digit hauls short of his tally for the whole of 2023/24 (nine).
It’s not quite his best-ever start to a season in FPL: in 2021/22, he amassed 117 points after 11 Gameweeks. But averaging 9.7 points per match, he’s comfortably ahead of where he was in his record-setting 2017/18 campaign.
Salah owners not only got a 14-point return on Saturday but also confirmation of a mooted omission from the Egypt squad for the forthcoming internationals.
In a rich vein of form, rested – and with Southampton up next…
VILLA’S SET-PIECE STRENGTH… AND WEAKNESS
Much of Villa’s threat came from their set pieces. Six of their 12 shots and well over half of their xG came from dead-ball situations, including all five of their efforts inside the six-yard box.
Above: All of Villa’s chances from set plays in Gameweek 11
Kelleher did well to repel headers from Amadou Onana (£4.9m) and Diego Carlos (£4.5m), while Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) had a header blocked and Lucas Digne (£4.7m) fluffed his lines at the back post. All of that happened in about a minute.
Villa are comfortably top of the division for xG from set plays this season. No one has scored more goals (five) from set pieces, either.
It’s also contributed to Digne – one of Villa’s corner takers – being the leading FPL defender for big chances created (eight) in 2024/25.
Perhaps they were too emboldened by their dead-ball successes. Darwin’s opener and his glaring miss came from counter-attacks from Villa corners, the visitors committing (too many?) players into the box and allowing Salah the freedom to break.
Morgan Rogers (£5.4m) wasted the Villans’ best chance from open play. He’s electric on the ball but, as previously discussed, his finishing could do with some fine-tuning: he’s spurned six of his seven big chances this season.
Watkins meanwhile is now on a run of one goal in eight matches in all competitions.
There are, at least, some juicy fixtures in the next four Gameweeks to help end that ‘drought’.
Villa lost one of their own players to injury when Jacob Ramsey (£5.4m) hobbled off.
“Hamstring. He was feeling something. Kamara as well he felt something on a run back he did. Of course, we are playing a lot of matches, but Ramsey didn’t play on Wednesday. But they [players] are always at risk of injuries. We have to accept it. They are injured now Ramsey, hopefully not Kamara. They are coming back for the next match, hopefully Cash and Ross Barkley.” – Unai Emery on Jacob Ramsey
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