Reports of Mohamed Salah‘s (£14.5m) demise may have been greatly exaggerated…
The Egyptian scored and assisted as Liverpool edged Atletico Madrid 3-2 on Wednesday, a match that saw Alexander Isak (£10.4m) make his Reds debut.
Meanwhile, in Munich, Cole Palmer (£10.4m) shrugged off his groin niggles to find the net twice – albeit with one goal disallowed – as Chelsea fell to defeat.
Here are our Fantasy Premier League (FPL) takeaways from both matches.
The graphics and data in this Scout Notes piece come from Statsbomb.
Subscribers of Fantasy Football Scout can get Statsbomb data for the Premier League, Champions League and more with their Memberships – the full details of which are here.
WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS
| Team | Opponent | Result | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | Bayern Munich (a) | 1-3 loss | Palmer | Gusto |
| Liverpool | Atletico Madrid (h) | 3-2 win | Robertson, Salah, van Dijk | Salah, Gravenberch, Szoboszlai |
SELECTION/ROTATION
| Team | No. of starting XI changes made from GW4 | Players who kept their places (mins played) | Mins for other players |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 4 | Sanchez (90), Tosin (90), Chalobah (90), Caicedo (90), Pedro (90), Fernandez (81), Neto (68) | Gusto (90), Cucurella (90), Palmer (90), James (68), Santos (22), Garnacho (22), Estevao (9) |
| Liverpool | 3 | Alisson (90), Van Dijk (90), Konate (90), Gravenberch (90), Szoboszlai (90), Salah (90), Wirtz (74), Gakpo (58) | Robertson (86), Frimpong (58), Isak (58), Bradley (32), Mac Allister (32), Ekitike (32), Ngumoha (16), Kerkez (4) |
It was all change at full-back for Chelsea, with Marc Cucurella (£6.2m) and Malo Gusto (£4.9m) coming in, while Reece James (£5.5m) started in midfield. That allowed Enzo Fernandez (£6.6m) to push forward into the ’10’ role.
Palmer meanwhile started his first match since Gameweek 1.
Liverpool fielded fresh full-backs, too, with Andrew Robertson (£5.9m) and Jeremie Frimpong (£5.9m) recalled. Milos Kerkez (£6.0m) and Alexis Mac Allister (£6.4m) dropped out, with Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.5m) moving from right-back to central midfield.
Isak for Hugo Ekitike (£8.8m) was like-for-like up top.
SLOT ON ISAK
Isak got through 58 minutes at Anfield, understandably looking rusty initially but growing in confidence and understanding as the game wore on.
His link-up play with Florian Wirtz (£8.4m) was especially encouraging. It was the probing German who teed up Isak for his two shots, the £125m striker gliding in from the left and firing two efforts from the edge of the box – one wide, one tamely on target.
The undoubted class was visible at times; now, the fitness just needs working on.
It’s likely that Ekitike will be back to lead the line in the Merseyside derby, which follows less than 63 hours after full-time in Wednesday’s epic. Isak will probably get on the pitch, and Arne Slot didn’t explicitly say he wouldn’t make the line-up on Saturday, but two starts in under three days would surely be dicing with danger after so long out of action.
“I was positively surprised by how fit he was during those 60 minutes but that maybe, probably, tells you that it might be a difference to sign a 20-year-old from a different league or a 25- or 26-year-old that is used to playing in this league. Although he only trained for two weeks, he has so many games under his belt that he is probably more able to be ready for 60.
“But I was positively surprised how fit he was, I wasn’t surprised by his quality because that’s what we all know. You don’t have to be a manager to recognise how much quality he has. But it’s always nice to see if a player starts the way he starts, like Hugo Ekitike [who], started the same as he did. Yeah, a good start, only 60 minutes and now we have to build him up from here. But I can tell you he is not going to play 90 again on Saturday.” – Arne Slot on Alexander Isak
THE BEST OF WIRTZ
This was Wirtz’s best display since his big-money move, with the German creating a match-best five chances. Not one of them was from a set piece, either.
As well as the two opportunities teed up for Isak, Wirtz had two other big chances created spurned. A lovely one-two between the German and Isak resulted in Frimpong miskicking from close range, while Salah crashed against the post following Wirtz’s lay-off on the counter.
Liverpool’s £100m man started off in the ’10’ behind Isak but moved to the left after an hour, with Cody Gakpo (£7.7m) coming off.
A breakthrough display, then? Time will tell, as a stubborn Everton are up next, but his relationship with Isak looks promising.
“He was indeed a few times close to scoring a goal and he was also a few times close to assisting a goal – I think he was the one who created most chances for us today. So I can see with him also that he is getting fitter and fitter and adjusting more and more to us, which is normal. You need a bit of time to adjust. We all know how much quality he has but sometimes people forget that he is a 22-year-old who goes for the first time abroad.”
“Combine that with going to a new club, a new playing style because [Bayer] Leverkusen played 3-4-3 and we play 4-3-3, and so we ask a bit more from him off the ball and defensively as well. But I can see him growing, growing, growing more and more and more, and I think that is what you can expect from a quality player, who always adjusts to what he needs. And he and the team will get better and better, but I liked his performance today already a lot.” – Arne Slot on Florian Wirtz
SALAH BOUNCES BACK
Just when you thought you were out, he pulls you back in.
Salah had more shots against Atletico (six) than he had registered in Gameweeks 1-4 combined (five).
The Egyptian’s free-kick, fortuitously deflected in by Robertson, brought him his first attacking return of the night. The second was pure, vintage Salah. Cutting in from the right flank, he played a one-two with Ryan Gravenberch (£5.5m), defying a defensive swarm to stay on the ball and slot in his first open-play Liverpool goal in a month.
Look at Frimpong’s role in the goal, though – the fit-again right-back making the run that drags one of Salah’s markers away and sets the wheels in motion. There’s certainly a school of thought that the Dutchman’s searing pace and overlaps will benefit Salah more than any other right-back alternative.
A lightning quick start from Liverpool ⚡️
Mo Salah doubles the Reds’ lead inside six minutes!
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/IokQaV9Zf3
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 17, 2025
MARESCA ON PALMER’S FITNESS
Another premium FPL midfielder was simultaneously starring in Munich.
Palmer followed up his goal off the bench in Gameweek 4 with another fine strike in the Allianz Arena, finishing off a sweeping Chelsea move. He thought he had another, too, only for his well-taken 89th-minute effort to be ruled out for a narrow offside.
A real threat in transition, he should have had an early assist too when Enzo took too long to get his shot away from close range.
Chelsea’s main, and only, outlet on the night, he was the stand-out performer when pretty much all other Blues outfielders were subdued.
One Big Keith-sized word of warning, however: Palmer, who completed 90 minutes, was nursing his troublesome groin at the end of the match. Maresca said afterwards it wasn’t an issue but it might be worth hanging on for Friday’s pre-match presser just to get that prognosis rubber-stamped.
“Cole, I think he’s okay. I asked him at the end, he said that he’s okay.” – Enzo Maresca, speaking after full-time on Wednesday
MARESCA ON ROTATION
There’s no shame in losing to Bayern away. It was a deserved loss, it has to be said, but the Blues had their occasional moments, and Manchester United are a far less formidable proposition than the Bavarian giants.
Indeed, in a Gameweek of hard-to-call matches, you could argue that Chelsea have one of the more favourable fixtures.
But as we saw in Gameweek 4, the rotation a-cometh.
It’s a bit different from last year, when Maresca fielded his B team in the UEFA Conference League. This time, the regulars are being asked to play in midweek.
Speaking ahead of the Bayern game, Maresca promised rotation – even in goal, where Robert Sanchez (£5.0m) had a good game on Wednesday.
“Tomorrow, Robert [Sanchez] will start, but for sure with the amount of games that we have, Filip [Jorgensen] is going to play games in the Premier League, in the Champions League, in the FA Cup, in the Carabao. We have so many games that, for sure, Robert cannot play all of them.” – Enzo Maresca, speaking on Tuesday
“It helps a lot if you are able to rotate players, especially probably at the beginning of the season. Okay, you can probably go with the same [ones but] it is a long season, many games, so I think you have to do that because you are also saving players, avoiding injury. But it is something that is dictated game by game. It is not something that you can plan because probably you plan something and then any problem or any injury is not possible. We are going to try to rotate players knowing that, as you said, the Champions League is a bit different from last season’s competition.” – Enzo Maresca, speaking on Tuesday
Next Tuesday’s League Cup third round tie against Lincoln City is, of course, a great opportunity in which to rest some of the regulars.
