FPL notes: Klopp on AFCON/Asian Cup exits + Jota’s return

Liverpool’s win at Burnley and Manchester United’s comeback victory over Aston Villa are the focus of our next Scout Notes article.

• READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 19: Tuesday’s goals, assists, bonus points + stats
• READ MORE: FPL notes: Newcastle’s poor form, Wood and Solanke strike again

KLOPP ON AFCON/ASIAN CUP EXITS

Jurgen Klopp confirmed after Saturday’s victory at Turf Moor that Wataru Endo (£5.4m) – and in effect, also Mohamed Salah (£13.3m) – will still be available for Liverpool’s clash with Newcastle United on New Year’s Day.

Endo departs for the Asian Cup in early January, while Salah is on duty for Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

Previously, FIFA have said that “players must be released and start the travel to their representative team no later than Monday morning the week preceding the week when the relevant final competition starts“.

That would be January 1 in this case, the day that Liverpool meet the Magpies at Anfield.

But a sensible compromise always looked likely, with Klopp saying that “the boys” would feature in that Gameweek 20 clash before meeting up with their respective countries.

“It’s a bit of a shame how he found his feet and now he goes to the Asian Cup but that’s how it is, it’s fine. What a boy and what a player and very important. At least in January, we have to play more or less without him but against Newcastle, he is still here. Then the boys leave and then we have to find another way and we will. But for the moment, I am really happy for him. It took him a little bit [of time] that he really showed how good he really is, but now we can see it and I’m really happy about that.” – Jurgen Klopp on Wataru Endo

COMPETITION JOT-TING UP IN LIVERPOOL ATTACK

While Liverpool will have to do without Salah from Gameweek 21 onwards, they have recovered another option in attack.

Diogo Jota (£7.7m) made a triumphant return from injury in the late kick-off on Boxing Day, prodding home Liverpool’s win-sealing second goal after being teed up by fellow substitute Luis Diaz (£7.2m).

Klopp was asked about Jota’s finishing ability after full-time, in light of some profligacy from his team-mates in recent weeks.

“I love Diogo Jota but he missed chances in the past as well. He had some fortune like that. It’s the nature of the thing that we always ask for, always the players who are not involved, and then all of a sudden we think they can change the world. Diogo is an incredibly important player for us. Having him changed the whole dynamic, that’s true, but before in his life, he missed some chances.

“The goal he scored today is the goal of a boy full of conviction. Good technique, obviously, but full of conviction because he had no chance to create any kind of doubt in the last few weeks because he was in rehab. That’s why the goal for Darwin was as important. Cody scored again, Harvey scored an incredible goal, they just took them away and it’s really, really tough, but how I said, we won the game and it’s all fine.” – Jurgen Klopp on Diogo Jota

Wastefulness threatened to haunt a dominant Liverpool again, with chance after chance going begging. Salah hit the woodwork and was denied by a flying save, while Diaz and Cody Gakpo (£7.2m) spurned big chances created by the bonus-gobbling Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.3m).

Darwin Nunez (£7.5m) had ended his goal drought earlier in the game, at least, with a fine finish from a Gakpo tee-up.

Jota’s return dents Darwin’s game-time prospects in the long run but once Salah head off to AFCON, where he may remain until Gameweek 24, it’ll once again be four players – Darwin, Gakpo, Jota and Diaz – competing for three spots in attack.

LIVERPOOL UNBEATEN FOR CLEAN SHEETS

Liverpool’s clean sheet at Turf Moor was their seventh of the season, a total that no other club can better. No side has conceded fewer goals (16), either.

While the presence of Alisson (£5.6m) is still a huge boon, the Reds have been a little less reliant on the Brazilian’s heroics in 2023/24:

It’s no coincidence that Virgil van Dijk (£6.2m) has looked back to his best this campaign, while Endo has recovered from a slow start to really hit form in the problem ‘six’ position. His absence in January will be a blow.

Never underestimate the importance of clean sheets as the bread and butter of an FPL defender: Alexander-Arnold has more of those than attacking returns this season.

Burnley didn’t lay a glove on their visitors until well into the second half, when two very decent headed chances went begging. Winger Wilson Odobert (£5.0m) was once again their stand-out player; had Johann Berg Gudmundsson (£4.8m) converted his teasing cross, as he should have, that would have been four attacking returns in as many games for Odobert.

Alexander-Arnold picked up his fourth booking of the campaign at Turf Moor but there’s no imminent danger of suspension as the threshold for a ban, at least for Liverpool players, has now risen to 10 bookings.

MORENO ON THE RADAR AFTER DIGNE INJURY

Alex Moreno (£5.0m) is a name that has flitted on FPL radars ever since his arrival at the start of this calendar year.

He was among the top 10 defenders for minutes per expected assist (xA) in 2022/23, for example, while his only Premier League start this season ended with a goal.

A hamstring injury rendered him unavailable at the start of 2023/24, with his minutes managed since. Positional rival Lucas Digne (£4.7m) has been in decent form in his absence, too.

But an injury picked up by Digne at Old Trafford on Boxing Day paves the way for Moreno to stake his claim at left-back once again.

“I think he’s going to be injured. Hamstring.” – Unai Emery on Lucas Digne

The trouble is that, with the winter break upon us, even a month-long absence for Digne (that’s a period we’ve just plucked out of thin air) could see him only miss two Premier League fixtures.

Moreno at least has the chance to make himself undroppable until the Frenchman does return.

In other significant Villa injury news, Pau Torres (£4.7m) was back in the matchday squad – albeit as a non-playing substitute.

MORE POINTS DROPPED BY VILLA

Gameweeks 18 and 19 represented something of a mini-blip for Aston Villa. It’d be overly simplistic to link the five points dropped just to the absences of Pau, Boubacar Kamara (£5.0m) and Youri Tielemans (£5.6m), even if life has been made harder without them. No team, not even Manchester City, can maintain excellence every week of the season, so a loss here or there is to be expected. The last time Villa were defeated in a league game, unexpectedly away to Nottingham Forest, they embarked on a seven-match unbeaten run.

They were also much the better team for the first hour at Old Trafford, scoring two set-piece goals through John McGinn (£5.5m) – who was playing in a more advanced midfield role – and Leander Dendoncker (£4.9m).

Ollie Watkins (£8.8m) failed to register a shot for the first time this season. What the stats don’t show is that he was a centimetre or two from connecting with McGinn’s goalbound free-kick, something that would have been clocked as an xG-boosting ‘big chance’ had there been even the slightest of contact. Partially as a result of that, he’s a lowly 18th for expected goals among forwards over the last six Gameweeks.

“Thirty-nine points. It’s amazing. Now you’re asking me in another direction! Good, good, only analyse tonight. Sixty minutes, fantastic. Fantastic. I want to analyse this match with the first 60 minutes we played, very good.

“Then of course we have to take experiences and we have to improve in the level we want to get, the level we want to achieve. Our players are now taking experiences. Manchester United, they have more experiences than us, more time being in the top level, the players and the club and the team. We move on. In the end, very disappointed, but accepting, and trying to understand all our first part of the season.” – A miffed Unai Emery, when asked about Villa’s capitulation

GARNACHO TURNS SHOTS INTO GOALS

Above: Midfielders sorted by goal attempts since Alejandro Garnacho began his unbroken run in the Man Utd starting XI in Gameweek 11

There’s been nothing wrong with Alejandro Garnacho‘s (£4.7m) underlying numbers since his current run in the Manchester United starting XI started in Gameweek 11.

But one Goal of the Season contender at Everton, plus an assist at Chelsea, was all he had to show for it until Boxing Day.

Villa were served fair warning when he had a breakaway goal disallowed for an offside early in the second half but they failed to pay heed: Garnacho’s first legitimate strike of the game arrived in a similar manner, assisted by the recalled and much improved Marcus Rashford (£8.4m). Garnacho then added a deflected second.

“I think he played very good. But he was ill during a period [of time]. But also, he had one or two games that we prefer to play Garnacho over [on] the left side, and because he [Garnacho] deserved it. He showed he was not only a threat, but he had key actions: assists, shots on target and scored goals.

“So yeah, there is also internal competition, but we have to see how we fit them in with togetherness. And today we played Alejandro on the right side, and that can be a solution, but it can also be fluid. But also, I know Rashford will also score from the right side.” – Erik ten Hag on Marcus Rashford

So, Garnacho a real goal threat drifting centrally from the right, Rashford back to some semblance of form on the left, Rasmus Hojlund (£6.8m) opening his Premier League account with the winner, and the fit-again Christian Eriksen (£5.8m) offering some probing passes from midfield.

It all came together for United in the second half but they’ve had false dawns aplenty this season, most recently in Gameweek 16 when they followed up an excellent win over Chelsea with a dismal defeat to Bournemouth.

You would not be shocked in the slightest if a rejuvenated Nottingham Forest brought them back down to earth with a bump in Gameweek 20.