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Liverpool 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur
- Goals: Mohamed Salah (£ 12.3 million), Roberto Firmino (£ 9.2 million) | Son Heung-min (£ 9.6 million)
- Attend: Andy Robertson (£ 7.2 million) | Giovani Lo Celso (£ 6.9 million)
- Cousin: Firmino x3 Son x1 Hugo Lloris (£ 5.6m) x1
One afternoon Roberto Firmino Heading (£ 9.2m) finally broke Tottenham’s resistance and handed Liverpool the win in a superb clash at the top of the table.
The Brazilian international scored his first goal in four weeks into the game, and only his third all season, with the Reds’ 11.th shot on goal. The visitors only had two.
But that only told part of the story of the night, with José Mourinho’s team rejecting three golden opportunities in the second half: two for Steven Bergwijn (£ 7.0 million) and Harry kane (£ 10.9 million) with the other, to execute a classic counterattack game plan.
(Big) chance should be a good thing
Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris (£ 5.6m) emerged with three save points and a bonus after making nine stops on the night, including three from Mohamed salah (£ 12.3 million), which had to rely on a wickedly diverted effort to open the scoring.
But despite 76% possession and a 17-8 shot count, the home team failed to forge a single great opportunity all night.
The Spurs, by contrast, had four of them. Three, as mentioned, were lost, while Son Heung-min (£ 9.6 million) converted the other when he ran from Young Lo Celso ‘s (£ 6.9 million) incisor step and beat Alisson (£ 5.9m) in the nearest position with authority.
That made it a third consecutive Gameweek with an attacking comeback for the South Korean, who entered the Liverpool clash as the most popular player in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL), with 60.4% ownership.
Eleven goals and four assists explain most of that charm, and his record against the ‘big’ teams explains the rest.
Son appears to be match-proof, with his nine-point loot at Anfield alongside his 18-point bonanza against Manchester United, 13 in the North London derby and 10 at home to Manchester City.
Against teams that, like the Spurs, sit deeper and prepare more defensively, their output is markedly different, with two double-digit returns offset by five blanks.
Defensive dilemmas
The Spurs holiday schedule, LEI wol FUL LEE, suggests the team could have a hard time breaking three of those four sides, with Leeds (as always) the notable exception.
Still, Son’s ownership continues to rise (he is currently in the top three for Gameweek 14 purchases), but there are also strong arguments for bringing in Tottenham’s defenders.
No team has kept a clean sheet more than the Spurs’ five, and they kept the league’s top scorers at arm’s length for much of Anfield’s game, reflecting their defensive strategy for the entire season.
Investing in that bottom line is understandably muted when your highest-scoring defender, Eric Dier (£ 5.0 million and 43 points), is being outscored by 18 other players.
The lack of attacking results doesn’t help: five goals have involved Tottenham defenders this campaign, a tally shared by three players. FPL’s most popular defender, Chelsea Ben chilwell (£ 6.2 million), you can match that output for yourself.
But the potential of the Spurs’ short-term schedule to produce defensive points cannot be ignored.
Liverpool’s bottom line has been considerably less tight, and it hasn’t helped injuries to key personnel this season.
The last middle half that was lost was Joel matip (£ 5.4 million), whose back injury was not resolved enough for coach Jurgen Klopp to risk it against Spurs.
In wine Rhys williams (£ 4.0m) for his league debut, and it was excellent according to Klopp:
Rhys couldn’t defend them alone, but he had an important role in it, so he did a very good job. It’s very good for him. Obviously it was a late decision because we didn’t know exactly what would happen to Joel and things like that. He did very well and that is hugely important to us.
Such a cheap way to get into Liverpool’s defense looks tempting ahead of a four-game hot streak that involved West Brom at home and trips to Crystal Palace, Newcastle and (admittedly, in shape) Southampton.
But unless Matip’s back problems deepen, Williams is unlikely to be more than a supporting player for now.
The same cannot be said for the sides Andrew Robertson (£ 7.2 million) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£ 7.2 million)
The latter has had an injury-stricken start to the season, but Robertson continues to outperform him going forward.
The left-back produced a fourth assist of the season against the Spurs (Alexander-Arnold has the only one) and paved the way for opportunities created (four) and crosses (11) in a performance that saw him miss bonus points. .
Liverpool XI (4-3-3): Alisson; Robertson, Fabinho, R Williams, Alexander-Arnold; C Jones, Wijnaldum, J Henderson; Mané, Firmino, Salah.
Spurs XI (4-3-2-1): Lloris; B Davies, Animal, Alderweireld, Aurier; Højbjerg, Sissoko, Lo Celso (Moura 58); Bergwijn (Reguilon 76), Son (Alli 87); Sled.
Arsenal 1-1 Southampton
- Goals: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£ 11.4 million) | Theo Walcott (£ 5.8 million)
- Attend: Eddie Nketiah (£ 5.5 million) | Che Adams (£ 6 million)
- Cousin: Aubameyang x3 Walcott x2 Nketiah x1
Arsenal managed to avoid a fifth straight loss at home, but another red card meant they had to do it the hard way against Southampton.
It also meant an equally tough night for many FPL directors, as the Gunners’ most popular player Gabriel (£ 5.1 million and 11.2% ownership) was the man to be fired.
Bad discipline, decent spirit
The nature of Gabriel’s expulsion, which involved two yellow cards delivered in just four minutes, speaks volumes for the indiscipline currently plaguing manager Mikel Arteta’s troops.
It was the second consecutive red card shown to an Arsenal player in the league and the seventh since the Spaniard took office late last year.
Until the Gunners can show the same consistency in results, they have now won more cup games than league games (14v13) with Arteta, fantasy managers will stay away, especially with Everton and Chelsea next.
At least 8.4% of bosses remain loyal to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£ 11.4 million) posted a double-digit first prize of the season when the Gabon international snapped a five-game league goalless streak with a draw against the Saints.
And the team is clearly getting used to playing ten men like Rob Holding (£ 4.4 million) nearly pinched a winner when his header hit the crossbar in time.
Regular saints
Based on the first half, and Gabriel’s stupidity after the break, Southampton will see the match as one that got away.
Theo Walcott (£ 5.8m) opened the scoring against his former club with a fine shot from Che adams‘(£ 6.0m) and other good opportunities came and went during the 90 minutes, with a substitute Nathan redmond (£ 6.4m) giving the bar a particularly excellent shot.
Not that Saints manager Ralph Hasenhuttl seemed overly disappointed after the game:
This is a team that is normally above us in the table. It was good to see that we can still be competitive. Teams respect what we do and how we play. I’m fine with one point.
But the team’s schedule looks complicated in the short term, with visits from Man City, West Ham and Liverpool and a trip to Fulham, which is improving, before a week 18 blank game further weakens the appeal of their assets. key.
Of the well-owned players on display at The Emirates, the lack of a clean sheet Jannik Vestergaard(4.9 million pounds sterling and 15.2%) and James Ward-Prowse (£ 6.3m and 18.5%) and Danny Ings (£ 8.4m and 8.3%) offered little goal threat and couldn’t create a single shot between them.
The most popular player of the team, the goalkeeper of 22.3% Alex McCarthy (£ 4.6m), kept his account going with a save point and is still the cheapest of FPL’s top five plugs.
Walcott had the most opportunities (two) and penalty area touches (four) for the visitors, but like the team as a whole, he faded as the game progressed.
Arsenal XI (3-4-3): Leno; Tierney, Gabriel, Holding; Saka, Elneny, Ceballos (Willock 67), Maitland-Niles; Aubameyang, Nketiah (Luiz 65), Pépé (Soares 85).
Southampton XI (4-4-2): McCarthy; Bertrand, Bednarek, Vestergaard, Walker-Peters; Walcott (Djenepo 63), Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Armstrong (Redmond 63); Adams, Ings.
Lessons Learned from FPL Gameweek 13
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