Two more Gameweek 14 matches to look back on now as we reflect on positive results for both Leeds United and Sunderland against Chelsea and Liverpool respectively.
SALAH BENCHED AGAIN + WHY GAKPO CAME OFF
Arne Slot opted for just one change to the line-up that started Sunday’s much-needed win over West Ham United, replacing Milos Kerkez (£5.7m) at left-back with Andrew Robertson (£5.8m). That meant that Mohamed Salah (£14.1m) was benched in back-to-back Premier League games for the first time in his Liverpool career.
The Egyptian, who will be heading to the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) after Gameweek 16, at least came on at half-time at Anfield following his Gameweek 13 no-show. He registered two shots (both inside the box) and created a match-high four chances, but a total expected goal involvement (xGI) figure of 0.17 tells its own story.
There are a maximum of three games left before Salah goes to AFCON, with this Saturday’s trip to seemingly resurgent Leeds United followed by a Tuesday night showdown with Inter Milan in the Champions League. Brighton and Hove Albion then come to Anfield on 13 December. You would think the 33-year-old come back into the side this weekend as Slot manages minutes elsewhere – will it kickstart the Egyptian’s season?
Cody Gakpo (£7.5m), bought by 250,000 managers before Gameweek 14, was the man replaced by Salah at the break.
“In my opinion, Cody struggled to dominate the one-v-ones. If you want to have any chance against, like I said, they were pressing high but also in multiple situations they were in a low block, [so] the way to score is quite simple: you need a moment of magic from a player or you need a set-piece to score. I felt in the first half Cody struggled to find that moment because it was hard for him to dominate the one-v-one or get crosses in.
“In the first half we played with [Dominik] Szoboszlai off the right to be defensively strong enough not to concede enough as we did in the last few weeks. I changed it to Mo on the right side and then played with Florian Wirtz off the left. Like I said, we hardly conceded, but it was throughout the whole game difficult to create that moment of magic.” – Arne Slot
VAN DIJK AND ALISSON STRUGGLE
Continuing the theme of declining Liverpool legends, the two men who have formed the spine of this team for the best part of a decade both had another night to forget on Wednesday.
Alisson (£5.4m), starting his third match back from injury, did at least save four of the five shots on target he faced, but one of those – a powerful Trai Hume (£4.5m) effort from distance in the first half – was rather fortuitously turned onto the bar after the Brazilian failed to get a clean parry to it.
Early in the second half, Alisson’s weak goal kick was then intercepted and brought straight back to his doorstep, forcing Ibrahima Konate (£5.4m) to head behind, and Omar Alderete (£4.1m) was put under little pressure by any of Liverpool’s defenders when he struck the post from the resulting Enzo Le Fee (£4.9m) corner.
The formerly imperious Virgil van Dijk (£6.0m), meanwhile, hit the defensive contribution (DefCon) threshold – one of three Reds to do so, alongside Konate and Ryan Gravenberch (£5.6m) – for the eighth time this season but was at fault for Sunderland’s eventual opener, giving the ball away before standing off and turning his back on Chemsdine Talbi’s (£5.0m) 25-yard, 0.02 expected goals (xG) shot that was helped past Alisson by a deflection off the Dutchman.
“Far too many times this season we don’t concede a lot of chances but the ones that we do go in. We weren’t lucky enough to get the win over the line but in recent weeks we would have lost this game so that is a positive.” – Arne Slot after Liverpool 1-1 Sunderland
Really, it’s only thanks to the work rate of fringe man Federico Chiesa (£6.3m) that Liverpool didn’t lose this game.
The Italian, who has played fewer than 200 minutes in the league this year form zero starts, replaced an ineffective Alexander Isak (£10.4m) in the closing stages and was the only man present to chase down a Wilson Isidor (£5.6m) breakaway in stoppage time, managing to block the eventual goalbound shot after the Sunderland forward rounded an onrushing Alisson.
SZOBO AND WIRTZ THE MAIN THREATS
At the other end, Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.6m) and Florian Wirtz (£8.0m) were the hosts’ biggest threats.
Each had four shots, with two of Szoboszlai’s three from outside the box placed on target. The Hungarian also made a couple of threatening runs, including one where he was marshalled away by Alderete but Sunderland’s out-ball was intercepted by Jones, who laid off for Wirtz to force an own goal equaliser off Nordi Mukiele (£4.2m) after some quick feet in the box.
That was one of the German’s three shots inside the area – one more than Isak managed on another quiet night for the Swede, whose zero efforts on target will surely leave Hugo Ekitike (£8.4m) again wondering – like Chiesa – what more he must do to be given a starting spot.
All in all, Liverpool really didn’t threaten Sunderland’s goalmouth all that much, with only four shots on target and one Opta-defined ‘big chance’ – by Wirtz – from 23 total attempts.
SUNDERLAND STAND FIRM
Indeed, this was another instance of Sunderland performing admirably against one of the top dogs to continue their impressive return to life in the Premier League. They’re now sixth in the table as things stand, a point above Liverpool.
It showed what Le Bris said at full-time, that Sunderland are “playing our game and we believe it is possible to win anywhere.”
His side have definitely been better at the Stadium of Light (P7, W4, D3, L0) than away from it (P7, W2, D2, L3), especially on the goal-scoring front (14 at home versus four away), but their 14 goals conceded (seven each home/away) this season is a tally bettered only by Crystal Palace (11) and Arsenal (seven).
Their willingness to defend resolutely and make life uncomfortable for opponents is reflected in 26 ‘big chances’ allowed being the fourth-lowest tally, too, with Sunderland forcing teams to take more shots from outside the box than any other club.
Corner and penalty-taking Enzo Le Fee (£4.9m), meanwhile, continued his strong recent form with the assist for Talbi’s opener, taking the budget-friendly Frenchman to four attacking returns in his last five matches.
Granit Xhaka (£5.2m) commanded the midfield, one of five Sunderland assets to hit the DefCon threshold alongside Mukiele, Alderete, Dan Ballard (£4.6m) and Reinildo (£4.0m).
LEEDS START FAST IN FARKE’S 3-5-2
Last weekend, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola acknowledged Daniel Farke’s half-time decision to switch from 4-3-3 to 3-5-2 as a major turning point in a match where Leeds came from 0-2 down at the Etihad, only to lose in stoppage time.
Farke himself said then it “would be also too easy to just reduce it to [playing 3-5-2] – but that’s exactly what the German manager did at Elland Road on Wednesday, and to great effect.
Undeterred by opponents Chelsea having taken four points in the previous week against Arsenal and FC Barcelona, Leeds got off to a flying start by creating four chances in the opening five minutes.
£3.9M DEFENDER SCORES, STACH BACK
And in the sixth minute, the Whites were rewarded when Jaka Bijol (£3.9m) brilliantly turned in a corner delivery from the returning Anton Stach (£4.8m), who earned DefCon points for the third time this season and created four chances on the night as well as having three speculative shots of his own.
That was Bijol’s first goal since joining the club this summer, but all four of his starts – and both of his own DefCon earnings – have come in the last six Gameweeks. This 12-point FPL performance certainly putting the centre-back on our radar as a squad option if he continues in this 3-5-2 alongside Joe Rodon (£4.1m) and Pascal Struijk (£4.3m).
Ao Tanaka (£4.8m) and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.5m) found the net, too.
That makes it two goals in two games for the ex-Everton striker, who tucked in another poacher’s finish to start the fightback against City in the match prior.
“A great shift from my lads, a great performance against one of the best sides in the world.” – Daniel Farke
GUDMUNDSSON MAKES SWIFT RETURN
Gameweek 14 also brought a return to the starting line-up for popular FPL bench-warmer Gabriel Gudmundsson (£3.9m), who last weekend was benched in real life for the first time this season.
The Swedish left-back created two chances, one for each of Calvert-Lewin and Nmecha, had one shot of his own from inside the penalty box, registered DefCon for the first time since Gameweek 5 and had his heels rather petulantly clipped by Estevao (£6.6m), who – perhaps fortunate only to see a yellow card – was promptly replaced at the interval.
NETO’S IMPORTANCE
Estevao’s replacement, Pedro Neto (£7.2m), further illustrated his importance to Enzo Maresca’s side by pulling a goal back for the Blues just five minutes after coming on.
The Portuguese was rested from the start for the first time this season but duly delivered when called upon, taking down a Jamie Gittens (£6.1m) cross before squeezing the ball into the tiny space between Leeds goalie Lucas Perri (£4.5m) and the near post.
Gudmundsson perhaps gave his man too much room to do so, but Neto is in fine form with that his sixth attacking return (four goals, two assists) in his last seven Premier League appearances.
PALMER CAMEO, BLUES QUIET
Those returns have been needed in the absence of Cole Palmer (£10.3m), who replaced Liam Delap (£6.2m) after an hour and dragged his sole effort wide on his first appearance since September.
Despite the two sides having similar total shot counts, Delap’s weak poke towards goal was the only effort on target that Chelsea managed in the first half. When he hit the side netting under pressure from Bijol in the second half, it meant only one of his three efforts had tested Perri, who only had that one save to make all evening.
Checking out the xG numbers adds to the narrative, with Leeds managing just under 3.00 while Chelsea barely scraped 1.00.
Maresca and Neto both conceded that their team – despite completing 630 passes, their most in a league match this season – was comfortably second best:
“A very poor night, [Leeds] deserved to win the game, they were better in all aspects. [We will] Just try to analyse and learn from this game and focus on the next one.
“It’s not about possession, in possession you need a purpose. Today they were better in all aspects. Congratulations to them. After the goal we scored we had one or two clear chances, but the third goal killed the game completely, then it’s much more difficult.” – Enzo Maresca
“They were better than us at everything. It’s difficult to take, we have to learn from that but we have to clear our minds, it happens. We are already focused on Bournemouth [in Gameweek 15].
“Sometimes it happens, we had a bad day, they had more intensity, attitude, won the second balls and had more desire than us. We cannot take games for granted.” – Pedro Neto
ENZO DEEPER, NO JAMES, COPING WITHOUT CAICEDO
Perhaps as a double consequence of Moises Caicedo’s (£5.9m) suspension and makeshift midfielder Reece James (£5.6m) being given a full rest, Enzo Fernandez (£6.7m) lined up as one of two holding midfielders beside Andrey Santos (£4.5m).
It meant the Argentine had an average position just inside Leeds’ half, limiting the box-crashing role that has boosted his attacking numbers for much of this season, and he was also dispossessed near his own box for Tanaka’s goal.
Enzo still had three shots (none of them on target) and created two chances. He accrued Chelsea’s highest individual xGI (albeit only 0.58), as well.
Maresca must now figure out how to navigate Bournemouth (a) and Everton (h) before he can welcome Caicedo back. The Colombian’s most natural replacement, Romeo Lavia, is injured, Santos wasn’t great against Leeds, and a deeper role definitely doesn’t get the best out of Enzo.
Chelsea have won just two of eight league matches without Caicedo since his arrival from Brighton in 2023, compared to 43 victories from 82 when he has started.
