A hugely enjoyable match at Anfield kicks off our Gameweek 16 Scout Notes.
Ten-man Liverpool twice came back from a losing position to draw with Fulham, almost nicking it at the death.
MR ROBINSON SEDUCES FPL MANAGERS
Attracting plenty of praise at Anfield is the most-bought player of Gameweek 17 so far.
Antonee Robinson (£4.7m) not only exhibited his attacking threat on Merseyside but also largely neutered Mohamed Salah (£13.4m). The best left-back in the Premier League right now?
Assists number five and six of 2024/25 arrived as the USA international teed up Andreas Pereira (£5.0m) and substitute Rodrigo Muniz (£5.5m).
There could have been others, too. Robinson had Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.0m) on toast, creating four chances in all.
Marco Silva was gushing in his praise.
“What a performance. It was difficult to express in words the performance of Robinson this afternoon. Again, it’s not the first time. I know that he is a player that if we have to play again in two days, three days time, he’s going to be ready again and he’s a great athlete.
“But the way he’s being improving in our defensive process, some defensive set-ups, he always has am open mind to learn and he’s been improving really and of course into the attack. He’s already the full-back in the Premier League with more assists from open play. Last season he was the the full-back with more assists in open play as well in Premier League.” – Marco Silva on Antonee Robinson
Strangely for someone who really passes the eye test, his underlying stats aren’t that good this season. A total of 17 chances created (just over one a game) is less than half the number that Leif Davis (£4.5m) has supplied. Robinson is outperforming his expected assists (xA) total by +3.90, too.
But with Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.9m) owners in need of a replacement and Fulham about to embark on the following favourable run, you can understand the motivation behind the mass move.
JIMENEZ V MUNIZ
The favourable fixture swing raises the question of which other Fulham players FPL managers could target.
Emile Smith Rowe (£5.5m) has fizzled out a bit after his blistering early-season start. He hasn’t had a shot since Gameweek 11 and was benched here, although you’d expect him to return for Southampton at home given that Pereira is suspended for yellow card accumulation. Smith-Rowe might be warming the bench come Gameweek 18, mind, as Silva has now benched him in two tricky away fixtures.
The ever-present Alex Iwobi (£5.7m) has even surpassed Smith Rowe for pretty much anything you want to measure: attacking returns, FPL points, shots, assists and xGI.
A cut-price Joachim Andersen (£4.2m) shouldn’t be far away from a comeback, meanwhile. His recovery is one to watch for FPL managers in need of a cheap defender.
Raul Jimenez (£5.5m) comes with caveats. He started at Anfield, as he has in 12 of the last 13 Gameweeks. There is a consensus that he’s a better all-round striker than Rodrigo Muniz, thanks to his link-up play and channel-running.
But Muniz isn’t going away without a fight. He came off the bench to score on Merseyside, with Silva admitting he has a welcome headache.
“When a striker comes in and makes an impact in the game and scores a goal, it’s always crucial for him. Great fight between both. They are both in a great moment. It’s good for me, good headache to see who is going to be the player that starts. Last week, great game from Raul. Amazing, hard, hard work from him, with a great goal against Arsenal. This afternoon, Rodrigo came in and scored against Liverpool. We have to be really pleased with the way they’ve been doing.” – Marco Silva
We might see managed minutes between the pair over Christmas:
WHY ROBERTSON ISN’T FLAGGED
An early Andrew Robertson (£5.9m) dismissal saw Liverpool disadvantaged for the vast majority of the game.
There’s no flag in FPL, though: it’s only a one-match ban and he’ll serve that in the EFL Cup in midweek.
While he may not be suspended in the Premier League, we might have to listen out for fitness updates later in the week.
Robertson received some studs on the knee early on, which Arne Slot used as mitigation for his dismissal.
“I think what the team showed today, the character they showed, that’s also what Robbo showed. Sometimes if you get a kick like this, two studs on a knee, that can hurt for a few minutes. Then, if you just keep on running, it gets better and better and that’s what we were hoping for. Not least because I only had one defender on the bench, who was not a left full-back as well.
“So, we were hoping he was managing to come through it and I think he did quite well, but the moment I noticed he wasn’t completely himself was the one time they put the ball in behind and he started running. He was just able to head it back to Ali [Alisson Becker], but I thought, ‘OK, let’s see how this continues’ and I think it was quite quickly afterwards where he conceded the red card.
“Nothing to blame on him, [it was] character that he wanted to continue because he got quite a hard knock on his knee with two studs. Unfortunately it led to a red card that was a deserved red card.” – Arne Slot on Andrwe Robertson
The Scot hasn’t been great this season and even before his red card, there were some jittery moments. He also lost Andreas for Fulham’s opener. With Kostas Tsimikas (£4.6m) nearly back to fitness, expect the left-back rotation to restart soon.
Joe Gomez (£4.9m) ended up covering on the left here, putting in a solid shift. With Jarell Quansah (£3.9m) shaky on his introduction, Gomez’s doesn’t seem in that much danger till Ibrahima Konate (£5.2m) returns.
JOTA RETURNS
The competition is hotting/Jotting up in attack, however.
Diogo Jota (£7.2m) and Federico Chiesa (£6.8m) returned to the matchday squad here, giving Slot his full complement of six attackers.
Jota took just seven minutes to get back on the scoresheet, twisting and finishing superbly after receiving a Darwin Nunez (£7.1m) pass. With Jota and Darwin available and tussling for the centre-forward role, Cody Gakpo (£7.1m) and Luis Diaz (£7.4m) may have to go back to competing for one left-wing slot. Diaz was initially through the middle on Saturday, with Gakpo to the left of him.
“We are delighted to have some players back because we’ve had our injuries. The good thing is that nobody spoke about it because that means you get results. But to have them available at this moment of time was really helpful.” – Arne Slot
There was no double-digit return for Salah for once but even though Robinson mostly did a good job on him, you simply can’t keep the Egyptian quiet for 90 minutes. A superb assist for Gakpo’s header extended his run without a blank, while he still somehow managed to have four shots – going close with a couple of them.
While the Season Ticker may disagree, a trip to Spurs next weekend actually seems more appealing than the Fulham fixture.
Massive credit to Liverpool for taking the game to the Cottagers even when a) down to 10 men and b) getting back on level terms. These are two clubs going in the right direction this season.
