Liverpool might be unbeaten since November but they drew for the fourth successive league match on Saturday, with Burnley defying the odds to snatch a point.

The coupon-buster at Anfield is the latest Gameweek 22 match to get the Scout Notes treatment.

• READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 22: Saturday’s goals, assists, bonus + ‘DefCon’ points
• READ MORE: FPL notes: Bruno brilliant in the ’10’ + Foden injury confusion
• READ MORE: FPL notes: Enzo’s role, Sanchez bounces back + just how fit is Palmer?
• READ MORE: FPL notes: Why Saka was benched + Gabriel outscoring Haaland
• READ MORE: FPL notes: Sunderland’s home form + Brobbey “getting better game after game”

THE BEST OF TIMES, THE WIRTZ OF TIMES

Florian Wirtz‘s (£8.2m) is FPL’s “form” midfielder – ie points per match over the last 30 days – after his third double-digit haul since Christmas.

A well-taken goal against Burnley means he’s now delivered something (goal, assist, DefCon) in six of the last nine Gameweeks.

There’s some encouraging underlying data to back the returns up, too.

Looking at his top five expected goal involvement (xGI) totals of the season below, four of them have come in the last five Gameweeks (calibre of opposition might also be relevant here…):

And if you’re not a subscriber to the xG mumbo-jumbo, his performances have looked much, much better on the eye over the last month or so. His outside-of-the-boot pass for Hugo Ekitike (£8.9m) for an early chance on Saturday was sublime. As was his footwork for an opportunity he teed up for Cody Gakpo (£7.3m); that effort was cleared off the line to deny him an assist. Wirtz even nearly doubled Liverpool’s lead, a lovely first touch and some impressive upper-body strength seeing him bypass a couple of Burnley defenders but thwarted by Martin Dubravka (£4.0m).

MORE EKITIKE NEAR-MISSES

Another player boasting eye-popping numbers on Saturday was Ekitike. Six shots, 1.20 xGI. Unlike in Wirtz’s case, however, there was no reward.

The Igor Thiago (£7.1m) to Ekitike transfer that many made in Gameweek 18 couldn’t have gone much worse. The Liverpool striker has missed a couple of matches through injury, while Thiago went goal-crazy in those same Gameweeks. Ekitike hasn’t scored once since Christmas.

Rubbing salt in the wound is the fact that Ekitike has been heavily involved in the goalmouth action. Again looking at the French forward’s best xGI tallies of the season (below), the top two have come in his last two Premier League appearances.

A combined 2.67 xGI, zero actual returns…

After points-dodging against Leeds United, he was at it again on Saturday. The best of his chances can be seen below, a mishit shot from Curtis Jones (£5.4m) that Ekitike actually got studs on (according to Opta); another inch or two on the stretch and the ball was in.

Some further encouragement for his punch-drunk owners? He scored against his next two opponents, Bournemouth and Newcastle United, in the reverse fixtures.

SZOBOSZLAI PENALTY MISS – AND SALAH NOW RETURNS

Gakpo also had a hard-luck story, matching Ekitike for efforts (six) and seeing two of his shots cleared off the line. And he was denied an assist when Dominik Szoboszlai (£7.1m) missed a first-half penalty that the Dutchman had won.

Szoboszlai actually has a brilliant career record from the spot, scoring 20 of the 21 he had taken before Saturday. Wouldn’t you know it, he smashed his penalty against Burnley off the bar.

And now, Mohamed Salah (£14.0m) returns. Back from the Africa Cup of Nations, the Egyptian will presumably pick up penalty-taking duties again – if he can re-establish himself as a first-team regular and December’s civil war is a thing of the past, of course.

Elsewhere on a day in which Liverpool’s stats were more impressive than their overall performance, full-backs Milos Kerkez (£5.6m) and Jeremie Frimpong (£5.8m) racked up a whopping 10 chances created between them. There may not be another game this season in which they’re as advanced as they were on Saturday, mind:

ESTEVE INJURY BOOST + DUBRAVKA STARS

On the Burnley front, Dubravka had a fine match between the sticks. He has now registered more save points (22) than any other FPL goalkeeper this season.

As perfectly priced bench options, the Slovakian goalkeeper and Maxime Esteve (£3.9m) are by far the most-owned Burnley players in FPL.

Esteve has been in and out of the side with a recurring injury of late, and there were fears of another breakdown when he hobbled off on Merseyside.

It sounds like good news, however:

“No, it looked like it was cramp. He was getting cramp in both quads. So, that’s what it was. So, hopefully not too serious.” – Scott Parker on Maxime Esteve

Further forward, Marcus Edwards’ (£4.7m) impressive showings on the right flank have now resulted in an assist and a goal in the last two Gameweeks. It took Scott Parker a long, long time to trust him with a Premier League start – it is thought to stem from reservations about the winger’s defensive work rate – but that chance finally came in Gameweek 18. He’s started four of the five games since, a fitness concern accounting for the one benching.

The Clarets are proving to be pests to FPL managers. In nine of their 11 away matches this season, they’ve scored – busting many a clean sheet in the process: