Liverpool and Aston Villa experienced contrasting fortunes in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night.
The Reds made it an incredible seven wins on the spin in Europe – a result which means Double Gameweek 24 is now confirmed, as expected – but Villa suffered a dispiriting 1-0 defeat in Monaco, leaving them with a Battle of Britain final group phase decider against Celtic next week.
We pick out the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from both fixtures in these Scout Notes.
TUESDAY’S RESULTS
| Goals | Assists | |
|---|---|---|
| Monaco 1-0 Aston Villa | – | – |
| Liverpool 2-1 Lille | Salah, Elliott | Jones |
TEAM SELECTION/ROTATION
| Starting XI changes from Gameweek 22 | Players who kept their place (mins) | Other mins for selected players | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aston Villa | 3 | Martinez (90), Cash (90), Konsa (90), Mings (90), Kamara (90), Tielemans (90), Watkins (90), Rogers (86) | Buendia (86), Digne (67), Bailey (56), Duran (34), Maatsen (23), Ramsey (4), Bogarde (4) |
| Liverpool | 4 | Alisson (90), Van Dijk (90), Tsimikas (90), Salah (90), Luis Diaz (74), Szoboszlai (63), Gravenberch (45) | Quansah (90), Nunez (90), Bradley (86), Jones (45), Elliott (45), Mac Allister (45), Endo (27), Chiesa (16), Alexander-Arnold (4) |
ALEXANDER-ARNOLD + GAKPO RESTED FOR GAMEWEEK 23
It was almost the perfect night for Liverpool. With his side pretty much guaranteed to go through in the top eight anyway, Arne Slot decided to give a few players a breather. Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.2m), Ibrahima Konate (£5.1m), Cody Gakpo (£7.4m) and Alexis Mac Allister (£6.2m) were all stood down to be replaced respectively by Conor Bradley (£4.7m), Jarell Quansah (£3.9m), Darwin Nunez (£7.0m) and Curtis Jones (£5.3m).
That’s likely very good news for owners of the benched quartet ahead of Gameweek 23. All four should return for the plum home fixture against Ipswich Town.
SALAH BACK ON THE SCORESHEET
Liverpool were dominant in possession and had 13 shots (54% on target) to Lille’s four (25% on target) but the visitors, who had been unbeaten in 21 matches, proved a hard nut to crack.
“They had to be patient because the reason why Lille has done so well – 21 games unbeaten and the teams they’ve beaten in the Champions League – is, without any disrespect at all, they don’t have the best players in the world, they have very good players, and then to be able to do so well tells you how disciplined they are, how hard they want to work and how well the manager does over there.
“We were not starting to force [anything] because they are really compact and defended really well. We didn’t force a pass; we just kept the ball for as long as we could. The only thing I wasn’t happy about is that not for the first time in recent weeks it was one chance for the other team and a goal, but that’s maybe a phase of the season we are in at the moment.” – Arne Slot
Slot’s side managed to catch them cold with a beautiful through-ball from Jones which Mohamed Salah (£13.7m) finished exquisitely for his club-record 50th goal in the competition. The open-play goal drought (!) was at an end.
The Egyptian king might have had a second when he masterfully controlled a long punt from deep by Luis Diaz (£7.5m), broke away from his markers but fired wide.
“Special is I think the word that describes most Mo’s performance at this club the best. Maybe there are even better words to use, but he’s been outstanding for this club for so many years and still he does [it]. Today [it was] a great goal.
“If Mo goes on a one-v-one there’s a serious chance that he is going to score, but this goal we scored probably tells you a lot about why we are top of the league and why we are doing so well, because the work-rate from the players that won the ball back before Curtis [Jones] gave a great pass towards Mo, that tells you why we’re doing so well.” – Arne Slot on Mohamed Salah
Substitute Harvey Elliott (£5.2m) bagged a deflected winner after the plucky 10-man visitors, who lost Aïssa Mandi to two bookable offences, had briefly restored parity.
DARWIN v DIAZ
With Diogo Jota (£7.2m) set to be out for a “weeks”, Darwin, who scored twice in Gameweek 22, would have ideally liked to have staked more of a claim by finding the net again. He didn’t: the Uruguayan had one effort (rated at 0.23 xG) saved and another ruled out for offside in the last minute.
His movement was decent, however, as were his pressing and off-the-ball work – qualities that Slot values as much as goalscoring ability.
Gakpo will likely be back for Ipswich in Gameweek 23, given he has started in each of the last 10 Gameweeks.
But who gets the nod alongside the Dutchman and Salah against the Tractor Boys?
Diaz was hooked after 75 minutes while Darwin lasted the full 90, suggesting the former could benefit on Saturday.
But Darwin has looked like a more effective ‘nine’ in the last two matches, which is effectively the position they’ll be competing for in Gameweek 23 and potentially Double Gameweek 24.
Diaz did start on the left last night (see below) but that owed to Gakpo’s rest.
QUALIFICATION A BOOST TO FIRST-TEAMERS’ GAMEWEEK 24 MINUTES?
With Liverpool having now sealed their place in the last 16, they will be able to go full strength at the weekend and then effect mass rotation in midweek for their final Champions League match against PSV. That, for Liverpool, is a dead rubber.
That’s great news for owners of Liverpool assets, as Double Gameweek 24 starts three days after the trip to the Netherlands.
Managers who have not yet stocked up on Liverpool players will be looking to load up now, as Ipswich at home is one of the easiest matches they could wish for. The first-teamers should then be well-rested ahead of the Bournemouth trip in Gameweek 24.
The unusual thing about this Double Gameweek, of course, is that there are League Cup and FA Cup matches in between the two league fixtures. You’d think that Slot goes strong against Spurs in the EFL Cup semi-final, resting the regulars against Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup, before returning to full strength for the Merseyside derby.
Could we see a team selection looking something like this?
| Date | Fixture | Full strength | Rotated/second string |
| Sat 25 January | Gameweek 23 – Ipswich (h) | ✔ | |
| Wed 29 January | Champions League – PSV (a) | ✔ | |
| Sat 1 February | Gameweek 24 – Bournemouth (a) | ✔ | |
| Thu 6 February | EFL Cup – Spurs (h) | ✔ | |
| Sun 9 February | FA Cup – Plymouth (a) | ✔ | |
| Wed 12 February | Gameweek 24 – Everton (a) | ✔ |
We might be able to second-guess game-time for regulars like Alexander-Arnold, Salah, Gakpo and Virgil van Dijk (£6.4m), then, but there are still tussles in some positions – Darwin v Diaz and Kostas Tsimikas (£4.6m) v Andrew Robertson (£5.9m), for example – that will be hard to call at this stage.
Tsimikas turned in a strong showing against Lille, crystallised by the tackle that led to the build-up for Salah’s goal.
Villa off the pace
Aston Villa will not have the luxury of taking it easy in the Champions League next week as their 1-0 defeat in Monaco leaves them clinging on to eighth place in the gigantic 36-team (super) league phase table.
Emery made three changes to the side who held Arsenal to a 2-2 draw, bringing in Lucas Digne (£4.6m), Leon Bailey (£6.2m) and Emiliano Buendia (£5.1m) for Ian Maatsen (£4.5m), the injured Amadou Onana (£4.8m) and Jacob Ramsey (£5.4m) respectively.
After falling behind to Wilfried Singo’s early header from a corner, Villa never really got going. A superb save by Emi Martinez (£5.0m) from Maghnes Akliouche prevented the visitors from going two down on the quarter-hour mark and as the match wore on it looked increasingly more likely that the hosts would score on the break, than Villa would equalise.
Ollie Watkins (£8.9m) dragged a shot wide just before half-time and Rogers sent a first-time strike narrowly off target early in the second half but Monaco had 12 shots to Villa’s 10 and the hosts never really looked troubled after the interval.
Without Onana and John McGinn (£5.2m), Villa’s midfield lacked bite, and although the typically lively Rogers drove forward gamely, he faded in the second half, as did the whole team, as they were outfought and out-thought by Monaco.
“Buendia played a fantastic match [on the left], but we needed something more on the right side and a little bit more on the left side. Passing directly in the middle we had two or three chances to score.” – Unai Emery on Villa’s weak right side
Although Emery denied it, Villa looked tired after their exertions at the Emirates. One wonders whether the congested fixtures are beginning to take their toll. Deprived of Onana, McGinn and Ross Barkley (£5.2m) they appear to have a soft centre, even if the creativity from Buendia and Youri Tielemans (£5.5m) always gives them a chance to find the net.
DURAN/WATKINS EXPERIMENT FAILS
Emery took matters into his own hands by making an early substitution, bringing on Jhon Duran (£5.8m) for Bailey. Finally, a chance to see whether Duran and Watkins could dovetail together.
Sadly, the experiment failed, and Emery admitted as much afterwards.
“The last 20 minutes we lost a little bit our position on the field. It is not because the players were tired, it is because I decided to play with two strikers.
“With some two strikers we are not being organised with our positioning like I want. We didn’t work well tactically those 20 minutes rather than being tired.
“I made a mistake when I decided to play with two strikers because in that moment we were more or less controlling the game. It is my challenge because both are very good players but today it didn’t work well.” – Unai Emery
Watkins starting four matches in 11 days could be construed in one of two ways: does it suggest Emery again prefers the all-round offering that Watkins provides, even with Duran back available, or does the recent game-time mean a Gameweek 23 benching is more likely?
As a result of the uncertainty, Rogers remains the standout Villa option in FPL – so long as he’s fit…
ROGERS “SICK”
Rogers remains excellent value in midfield but Emery said afterwards he was suffering from illness (he was substituted in the 86th minute), suggesting it might be advisable for Fantasy managers to pay close attention to Emery’s pre-match presser before Gameweek 23.
“Morgan was a little bit sick.” – Unai Emery on Morgan Rogers
Villa have some fantastic fixtures on the horizon with Wolves, Ipswich and a defensively suspect Chelsea to follow West Ham. These matches should provide Villa with plenty of goalscoring chances, with Rogers and whoever is leading the line remaining the strongest candidates to get returns.
A word of warning, though: the Villans have failed to win their last five Premier League games that immediately followed a Champions League tie.
