Liverpool may have been unbeaten since November, but on Saturday they drew for the fourth league match in a row, with Burnley defying the odds to take a point.
The coupon buster at Anfield is the latest Gameweek 22 match to get the Scout Notes treatment.
THE BEST OF TIMES, THE WIRTZ OF TIMES
Florian Wirtz‘s (£8.2m) is FPL’s ‘form’ midfielder – meaning points per match over the last 30 days – after his third double-digit win since Christmas.
A well-taken goal against Burnley means he has now delivered in six of the last nine gameweeks (goal, assist, DefCon).
There is also some encouraging underlying data supporting returns.
Looking at his top five expected goals involvement (xGI) totals for the season below, four have come in the last five Gameweeks (the caliber of opposition may also be relevant here…):
And if you’re not a subscriber to the xG mumbo-jumbo, his performances have looked much better over the past month. His outside-the-boot pass for Hugo Ekitike (£8.9m) for an early chance on Saturday was sublime. Just like his footwork for an opportunity he applied for Cody Agat (£7.3 million); that attempt was taken off the line to deny him an assist. Wirtz even almost doubled Liverpool’s lead, a lovely first touch and impressive upper body strength, sidestepping a pair of Burnley defenders but being thwarted by Martin Dubravka (£4.0 million).
MORE EKITIKE NEAR MISSIONS
Another player with eye-catching numbers on Saturday was Ekitike. Six shots, 1.20 xGI. Unlike 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 missed a few games through injury, while Thiago went goal-crazy in the same Gameweek. Ekitike has not scored once since Christmas.
Rubbing salt in the wound is the fact that Ekitike has was heavily involved in the goalmouth action. Looking again at the French forward’s best xGI figures of the season (below), we see that the top two has come in his last two Premier League appearances.
A combined 2.67 xGI, zero actual return…
After points avoidance against Leeds United, he was able to get back to work on Saturday. The best of his chances can be seen below, a miss from Curtis Jones (£5.4 million) which Ekitike actually received studs on (according to Opta); another inch or two down the stretch and the ball was in.
Another encouragement for his drunken owners? He scored against his next two opponents, Bournemouth and Newcastle United, in the reverse fixtures.
SZOBOSZLAI PENALTY MISS – AND SALAH IS NOW COMING BACK
Gakpo also had a bad luck story, matching Ekitike for efforts (six) and seeing two of his shots cleared off the line. And then he was denied an assist Dominik Szoboszlai (£7.1m) missed a first-half penalty that the Dutchman had won.
Szoboszlai has a brilliant career record from the spot, scoring 20 of the 21 he had achieved before Saturday. Wouldn’t you know it, he hit his penalty against Burnley off the crossbar.
And now, Mohammed Salah (£14.0m) return. Back from the Africa Cup of Nations, the Egyptian will likely be back in charge of penalty kicks – if he can re-establish himself as a first-team regular and the December civil war is of course a thing of the past.
Elsewhere on a day when Liverpool’s stats were more impressive than their overall performance, full-backs Milos Kerkez (£5.6 million) and Jeremy Frimpong (£5.8m) saw a whopping 10 chances created between them. There may not be another match this season where they are as far along as they were on Saturday, take note:
ESTEVE INJURY BOOST + DUBRAVKA STARS
On the Burnley front, Dubravka had a great game between the sticks. He has now registered more save points (22) than any other FPL goalkeeper this season.
As perfectly priced banking options are the Slovakian goalkeeper and Maxime Esteve (£3.9m) are by far the most Burnley players in the FPL.
Esteve has been in and out of the side recently with a recurring injury, and there were fears of another breakdown when he limped onto Merseyside.
However, it sounds like good news:
“No, it looked like it was a cramp. He got cramps in both quads. So that was it. So hopefully not too serious.” – Scott Parker on Maxime Esteve
Further forward, Marcus Edwards’ (£4.7m) impressive performances on the right flank have now resulted in an assist and a goal in the last two gameweeks. It took a very long time for Scott Parker to hand him a start in the Premier League – presumably this stems from reservations about the winger’s defensive work-rate – but that chance finally came in Gameweek 18. He has started four of the five games since, a fitness issue accounting for the only benching.
The Clarets are proving to be a nuisance to FPL managers. They have scored in nine of their eleven away games this season, often keeping a clean sheet:
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