Firmino outshines Mane and struggling Salah as Kane toils for Spurs

Substitute Roberto Firmino (£9.4m) was Liverpool’s match-winner on Tuesday evening as the Reds defeated Paris Saint-Germain at Anfield, but there were blanks for Sadio Mane (£10.0m) and Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) as Jurgen Klopp’s side ran out 3-2 victors.

Christian Eriksen (£9.3m) looked to have handed all three points to Tottenham Hotspur in their early-evening kick-off in Milan, meanwhile, but two late strikes from Inter consigned Spurs to a 2-1 defeat.

We discuss the key Fantasy Premier League talking points from two UEFA Champions League matches contested last night.

Liverpool 3-2 Paris Saint-Germain

• Goals: Daniel Sturridge (£5.8m), James Milner (£5.6m), Roberto Firmino (£9.4m)
• Assists: Andrew Robertson (£6.2m), Georginio Wijnaldum (£5.5m), Virgil van Dijk (£6.0m)

Roberto Firmino was on target for the third Liverpool match in a row despite only emerging as a 72nd-minute substitute in their opening Champions League Group C encounter with Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday evening.

Firmino, who had been a doubt for the match with an eye injury picked up in the win over Spurs in Gameweek 5, came off the bench to rifle home a Salah-esque winner in stoppage time, collecting the ball from Virgil van Dijk (£6.0m) and jinking into the PSG area to fire a shot across visiting goalkeeper Alphonse Areola.

The Brazilian, who is owned by just over 25% of FPL managers at the time of writing, has perhaps been overlooked somewhat in the discussion over Liverpool’s Fantasy assets but has been involved in as many league goals (four) as Mane and Salah have this season.

Firmino surely looks the likeliest of the three to start in Gameweek 6, too, having played just over 20 minutes of the midweek encounter against PSG.

Daniel Sturridge (£5.8m) did his own first-team chances no harm by opening the scoring in what was his first Champions League start in over six years; Andrew Robertson (£6.2m) collected his third Liverpool assist of the season for Sturridge’s goal with another pinpoint delivery from the left flank.

Speaking of Sturridge and Firmino, Klopp said:

Great performance of Daniel. The three in midfield did an outstanding job, but they only can do it when the two wingers in how we play and the No.9 are helping in all these situations to keep the formation compact. It was fantastic. I said to Daniel before the game he is the best shape since I’ve known him, physically, and now he had to use it – and that’s what he did. A super game, a super goal.

And we then had the opportunity to bring on Bobby Firmino. There was no chance yesterday, absolutely no chance today before [training] and then this morning he came in said, ‘I am fine, I can open the eye again!’ so it’s good, it helps! It was good.

Klopp also discussed his decision to bench Firmino:

The day before yesterday it was no chance, yesterday it didn’t look really well and we had only one session, which we used, and that was this morning. Bobby tested a little bit and then he went in and you think it’s the moment when you have to show faith in the squad.

Yes, when you have Bobby Firmino available, you actually always think ‘come on, bring him’, but it was nice to see how Daniel performed tonight and he paid 100 per cent back. That’s so cool for him, for us, such a big, important sign. And how I said, bringing Bobby in after 70 minutes is a nice tool, to be honest, I really like that.

While Robertson was excellent again down the left and largely coped with the threat of Kylian Mbappe, Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.0m) delivered a noteworthy performance at right-back.

The England full-back shackled Neymar all evening and looked dangerous going forward, whipping in a few teasing deliveries and on one occasion producing a superb dribble into the PSG box. Alexander-Arnold – who has registered three direct attempts on goal from set-plays already this season – also clipped the woodwork with a free-kick late on.

Van Dijk, who had 27 attempts on goal last season without scoring, underscored his goal threat by forcing Areola into a fine save in the first half before collecting an assist for Firmino’s winner.

James Milner (£5.6m) scored from the spot to double Liverpool’s lead after 36 minutes and has now taken both of the Reds’ penalties in competitive matches this season – an indication that he has seen off the challenges of Mane, Salah et al on spot-kick duties.

Salah was worryingly subdued and was chiefly responsible for PSG’s equaliser, giving away possession (not for the first time last night) to Julian Draxler who set Neymar and Mbappe on their way.

The Egyptian did find the back of the net at Anfield, though his tap-in was ruled out for a foul by Sturridge on Areola.

This was Salah’s third match without a goal or assist and a considerable number of FPL managers have acted on the 2017/18 top goalscorer’s mini-slump, with the Egypt international suffering more sales than any other player after the culmination of Gameweek 5.

Mane also drew a blank, though came close to scoring when firing a shot along Areola’s goal-line from an acute angle in the second half.

Liverpool are up against Southampton this weekend, who have conceded more big chances this season than all bar three Premier League teams – this despite the Saints not facing any of the “big six” in their opening five fixtures.

Ditching Salah (or Mane) is a risky move ahead of this fixture, but there is legitimate concern over the talismanic Egyptian’s performances this season, especially given his inflated price tag. That he doesn’t currently boast a landslide margin in our Gameweek 6 captaincy poll says a lot about his current form. A blank – or a rest – in the home match against Mark Hughes’ troops might be the final straw for many, with matches against Manchester City and Chelsea to follow.

Aside from Sturridge for Firmino, the only other change to Liverpool’s line-up from the side that faced Spurs at the weekend was Naby Keita (£7.4m) being replaced by Jordan Henderson (£5.3m).

Keita has yet to register an attacking return this season and this was the second time in three matches that he has been ousted by Henderson in the centre of the park.

Speaking of the ex-Sunderland midfielder’s inclusion, Klopp said:

We played a midfield who played a lot of times last season together, that was the reason for that tonight, it was clear that Hendo would come back and what a brilliant performance of him. Physical-wise, so good, because obviously as we know that the players after the World Cup normally struggle a bit… he is ready now and that’s really important for us.

While Keita was again the makeweight last night, there has to also be concern about Milner and Georginio Wijnaldum‘s (£5.5m) minutes in the coming weeks as the fixture list becomes somewhat congested. The pair, however, were excellent again on Tuesday evening.

Liverpool XI (4-3-3): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Milner, Wijnaldum, Henderson; Salah (Shaqiri 85′), Sturridge (Firmino 72′), Mane (Fabinho 93′)

Internazionale 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur

• Goal: Christian Eriksen (£9.3m)
• Assist: Erik Lamela (£6.4m)

Christian Eriksen’s strong form on the continent continues to haunt the 9.0% of FPL managers who own the Danish midfielder, though at least suggests a goal might be around the corner in Spurs’ appealing next four fixtures in the league (bha, hud, CAR, whm).

The General last week bemoaned Eriksen’s brace of goals for his nation during the international break and the Spurs playmaker was at it again last night, finding the net – albeit somewhat fortuitously – with a looping, deflected shot that deceived Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic.

Eriksen is without a Premier League goal this season but was Spurs’ main threat last night, forcing Handanovic into a save with a long-distance free-kick and then again testing the Slovenian international’s reflexes just before he notched the game’s opening goal.

The Danish schemer should have had an assist too, providing a sumptuous chipped through-ball to Harry Kane (£12.4) who fluffed his lines in a similar manner to his glorious chance against Croatia in the World Cup semi-final.

Kane’s game is undoubtedly suffering at the moment, as we highlighted in our assessment of his key performance indicators in an article last week.

Speaking of his out-of-sorts striker, Mauricio Pochettino said he was nevertheless content with Kane’s work ethic:

Yes, I am disappointed because he had big chances to score in the first half. I was talking to Javier Zanetti, who is a very good friend of mine, and he said if he scores in the first half, we are talking a different game. We need to build, like the team, his confidence, but I am so happy with the effort and the attitude is massive.

Pochettino had this to say of Kane in his pre-match presser, meanwhile:

Harry is an easy target because it’s easy when he’s not scoring to start to talk about him.

But Harry, after four years at the club, there are a lot of things to say thank you to him. Of course, he needs to improve, but the team needs to improve.

But it’s easy to blame Harry, it’s an easy judgement.

Pochettino had made five changes to his starting XI from the defeat against Liverpool, including rotating three of his back four. Kieran Trippier (£6.0m) and Toby Alderweireld (£5.9m) were left at home in a decision Pochettino called “technical” earlier in the week, so the pair may come back into contention for the trip to Brighton this weekend – though Serge Aurier (£5.9m) had a decent match at right-back up until Inter’s winner. Ben Davies (£5.8m) replaced Danny Rose (£5.9m) at left-back, meanwhile.

Lucas Moura (£7.4m) was dropped to the bench as Son Heung-min (£8.3m) and Erik Lamela (£6.4m) made their first Spurs starts of the season, though that the Brazilian midfielder did more in a 30-minute cameo than his positional rivals (Son especially) managed all game suggests he will return to Pochettino’s starting XI in Gameweek 6.

Moura set Lamela up for an excellent chance upon his introduction and caused havoc down the left flank after replacing Son.

Lamela had started the game centrally behind Kane with Eriksen on the right, though the midfield pair switched roles in the second half.

Pochettino was uncharacteristically animated in his post-match press conference, mounting a defence of his team selection:

Why disrespect the players that aren’t on the pitch? You can blame me and say ‘gaffer, you were so rubbish in your selection of the starting XI.

But please don’t disrespect the players who were playing, because it’s my decision. Kieran Trippier, Toby Alderweireld, we have 25 players. And you believe that and sometimes you behave like you ask me with your question, that you can play only 11 and the other 13 or 14 players are rubbish, are s**t.

It’s so easy, it’s so easy I don’t know. Sorry, but I am so disappointed because I am a person that respect you a lot and the players. When my decision is to play with XI, you must respect my decision because I am the manager. You cannot disrespect.

Pochettino also mitigated Spurs’ early-season form, with the Lilywhites currently sitting in sixth position after losing their last two league matches:

I told you that the circumstances of the pre-season weren’t the best. Of course, we are suffering a little bit. It’s not an excuse. It’s only the reality. But I think of course we need to improve a lot. We need to build our positive period again and we need to work hard.

Those comments don’t instil much faith in Spurs’ players as go-to FPL options in the coming month, despite the north London club sitting top of our Season Ticker for the next four Gameweeks.

Spurs XI (4-2-3-1):  Vorm; Aurier, Sanchez, Vertonghen, Davies; Dier, Dembele; Eriksen, Lamela (Winks 72′), Son (Moura 64′); Kane (Rose 89′)

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