Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur progressed to the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League last night after picking up the results they needed against Napoli and Barcelona respectively.
Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino’s sides, along with both Manchester clubs after tonight’s glorified dead rubbers, will next be in European action in mid-February, which could impact on Premier League team selections from Gameweek 26 onwards.
Fantasy managers can at least put the Champions League to the back of their minds after this week, though of course, the fixture schedule doesn’t relent for the rest of this month.
Tuesday’s exhilarating ties might have come at a cost on the injury front, with Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s knock the most significant of Liverpool’s three fitness concerns from a Fantasy perspective – we’ll have more on that in the article below, as well as a round-up of the goals, assists and manager quotes.
While both matches were physically and mentally demanding, the consolation for Fantasy managers is that neither club will face a gruelling Wednesday/Saturday turnaround, as is the case with Manchester City this week.
Spurs take on Burnley in three days’ time, while Liverpool are not in action until tea-time on Sunday.
Liverpool 1-0 Napoli
- Goal: Mohamed Salah (£13.0m)
- Assist: James Milner (£5.6m)
While Fantasy managers – and some Liverpool fans – have bemoaned the lack of “heavy metal football” at Anfield this season, the Reds’ display against Napoli on Tuesday was reminiscent of their swaggering performances of 2017/18.
While the scoreline showed a narrow victory for Klopp’s side and Napoli did cause a few palpitations towards the end of the match, the Reds should have won by a greater margin and they were full of attacking intent throughout.
It wasn’t even as if Mohamed Salah’s (£13.0m) 34th-minute goal forced Napoli out on the front foot and opened up acres of space for Liverpool’s front three to exploit on the counter-attack; the Reds continued to dominate thereafter and it wasn’t until deep into the second half that Klopp’s troops were forced to soak up some pressure and hit on the break.
The Liverpool manager said of his side’s display:
Our offensive defending, our offensive pressing was some of the best I ever saw. We played football and the direction we played with – the intensity we played with – was just difficult to deal with. We could have scored more often but actually 2-0 doesn’t help a lot.
We knew at half-time we could not change the tactics, to say “now sit a bit deeper”.
After 65 minutes it was really wild from both sides – counter, counter, counter, counter – and quick transitions without really finishing.
After his hat-trick at Bournemouth on Saturday, it seemed destined that Salah would be Liverpool’s match-winner last night.
While Salah showed great presence of mind to catch David Ospina out from an acute angle, the Napoli goalkeeper was culpable for the decisive goal, leaving a gap at his near post as he anticipated a cross from the Egyptian.
The former Arsenal shotstopper at least redeemed himself thereafter with some key saves to keep Napoli in the game, but Salah and especially Sadio Mane (£9.7m) were guilty of profligacy in front of goal as they wasted chance after chance to put the game to bed.
The Egyptian winger, back on the right flank for this match in a familiar-looking front three, miscontrolled an Andrew Robertson (£6.4m) cross early in the first half and then could only fire into the side-netting when played through on goal by Roberto Firmino (£9.2m) on 50 minutes.
Ospina also thwarted Salah’s attempts to round him later in the match before getting back to claw away the Egyptian’s cross-shot.
It’s no exaggeration to say Mane should have had a hat-trick, meanwhile.
The former Southampton midfielder wasted three glorious opportunities in the final 15 minutes, firstly being denied by Ospina from point-blank range and then twice firing off target when totally unmarked in the Napoli box.
Back in the centre-forward role, Roberto Firmino (£9.2m) was much-improved, creating two of Salah’s chances.
Again, though, his goal threat was limited: a 57th-minute header from the edge of the box being the only time he troubled Ospina.
Liverpool’s defenders also showcased their attacking threat in different ways.
Robertson was the provider of two gilt-edged chances for Mane and Salah, providing plenty of support on the left flank and popping up in the Napoli box on more than one occasion.
Virgil van Dijk (£6.1m), who has had nine attempts on goal and two assists in the last six Gameweeks, again proved to be prominent at set plays, blazing over from a Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.4m) free-kick.
The young right-back was again on set-piece duties and created more chances than any other player on show at Anfield, but his Fantasy owners were dealt a blow late on when he limped from the field of play.
Klopp gave an update on Alexander-Arnold, James Milner (£5.6m) and Joel Matip (£4.9m) after full-time, all of whom picked up injuries:
Nobody told me anything about [Joel’s] shoulder, so hopefully that’s a good sign.
Trent got a knock on his foot, we are not sure about what exactly it is. It is painful.
Millie had cramps – I hope it was only cramp. That was it, I don’t know anything else.
Alexander-Arnold is set for a scan on his foot today.
Alisson (£5.7m) once again proved his worth, producing a sprawling stop in injury time to deny Arkadiusz Milik and preserve Liverpool’s lead.
Klopp paid tribute to his goalkeeper’s all-round play:
It was not only one save. He had a lot of things to do tonight. How cool and calm he was with the ball helps us a lot in our build-up situations. When he comes out for crosses he is outstanding.
And that save was just incredible. But if we don’t defend the whole pitch like we defended, Ali cannot make 20 saves like the last one. He did it – incredible, unbelievable. I never saw something similar. But still he needs the other boys around.
Liverpool XI (4-3-3): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold (Lovren 89′), Matip, van Dijk, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Henderson, Milner (Fabinho 85′); Salah, Firmino (Keita 79′), Mane.
Barcelona 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
- Goal: Lucas Moura (£7.0m)
- Assist: Harry Kane (£12.5m)
Mauricio Pochettino promised more rotation after Tottenham Hotspur deservedly picked up a 1-1 draw in the Nou Camp to progress to the last 16 of the Champions League.
The Spurs boss said:
I think it was an unbelievable effort and we are in a period in England where we are playing every three days. Of course we need to rotate the starting XI. The squad is so important but it’s so tough, the physical and mental effort the players are expending.
We Fantasy managers wouldn’t expect anything else, of course, with not a single Spurs player having started all 16 of their Premier League matches this season: Harry Kane‘s (£12.5) benching in Gameweek 16 putting paid to his unbroken run of starts.
We can probably anticipate further changes for the visit of Burnley this weekend, too, with a Carabao Cup quarter-final against Arsenal looming next Wednesday.
Lucas Moura (£7.0m), Erik Lamela (£6.2m) and Ben Davies (£5.6m) may return to the starting XI against the Clarets having been rotated for the trip to Catalonia, with the likes of Kane, Dele Alli (£8.9m), Christian Eriksen (£9.3m) and Danny Rose (£5.8m) potentially at risk having played 90 minutes on Tuesday night.
Son Heung-min (£8.5m), meanwhile, has started all four of Spurs’ matches in the first 11 days of December and played the first 71 minutes of this encounter before being replaced by Lucas.
Son was presented with an excellent chance to draw Spurs level on 32 minutes but was thwarted by Jasper Cillessen, who then saved two more of the Korean’s scuffed efforts to keep Barcelona a goal up.
The Barca goalkeeper produced more heroics to keep out two efforts from Eriksen and a header from Lucas before the latter got onto the end of a Kane cross with five minutes remaining to finally break the Dutch custodian’s resistance.
Kane’s performance was promising for his owners, with the England striker linking up play well and posing a goal threat of his own.
No player on show supplied more key passes, with Kane teeing up Eriksen for one of the Dane’s attempts, producing a superb reverse ball to create a shooting opportunity for the impressive Rose and registering the assist for Lucas’s goal.
The premium forward was perhaps unfortunate not to get on the scoresheet, having seen a goalbound effort blocked by Miranda and then being shoved by Clement Lenglet just as he pulled the trigger when clean through on goal.
Lucas and Lamela injected dynamism into Spurs’ attacks upon their introductions, while Eriksen was his usual probing self in midfield and produced some excellent passes – even if his set-piece deliveries were lacking in quality.
Alli, meanwhile, displayed his versatility by switching between attacking midfield and a more deep-lying role, though his adaptability in that regard is a little off-putting from a Fantasy perspective.
The frustration for us FPL managers is that we seemingly can’t exploit Spurs’ excellent forthcoming fixtures with any of their midfielders – at least, not without the constant risk of rotation lurking.
Son has been the most “nailed” pick in recent weeks and it could be that Pochettino is getting as many minutes as he can out of the Korean before his departure for the Asian Games in January.
Moussa Sissoko (£4.9m) is a Spurs asset with limited Fantasy appeal but his own versatility could be significant regarding the Lilywhites’ problems at right-back.
Kyle Walker-Peters (£4.2m), deputising for the injured Serge Aurier (£5.8m) and Kieran Trippier (£6.1m) last night, was caught on the ball by Ousmane Dembele for Barcelona’s goal and eventually replaced on the hour, with Sissoko moving to right-back and performing superbly in an alien position.
Pochettino said of the in-form Sissoko:
I am so happy, because from the day he signed two and a half years ago he struggled to adapt at the club in the way that we wanted him to play. But in the same way I am so proud of him because he showed his a great person, a great man, a really top man and then he’s a great professional.
The quality that he had he always gave 200 per cent in every single game. Sometimes he was better than others, sometimes good, sometimes not so good, but one thing we can always describe him as is honest, such an honest person and an honest player. That is a massive thing for a player that they need to play for the team and show fantastic commitment.
Spurs were rarely troubled by their under-strength hosts, save for two Philippe Coutinho efforts that struck the woodwork.
On the match, Pochettino said:
I have a massive respect for the whole squad in Barcelona. Any player who is playing more or less minutes at Barca could play in any team in the word so I have massive respect for them.
We played against them and we always had the feeling that we were in control. It is a pity we conceded a goal after only seven minutes. Maybe we didn’t have the fluidity we wanted to have and maybe the strategy of the game crumbled for us.
But in the second half, we calmed down, found our own spaces, created chances. We had chances to win the game.
Tottenham Hotspur XI (4-2-3-1): Lloris; Walker-Peters (Lamela 61′), Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose; Winks (Llorente 83), Sissoko; Eriksen, Alli, Son (Moura 71′); Kane.
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