Following up on his 17-pointer in Gameweek 26, Virgil van Dijk (£5.9m) delivered another double-digit harvest on Sunday.
Kicking off our Sunday Scout Notes it’s Nottingham Forest 0-1 Liverpool.
ANOTHER VAN DIJK HAUL
After scoring the winner at the Stadium of Light in Gameweek 26, Van Dijk once again played a crucial role for Liverpool on Sunday.
The Dutchman provided the assist Alexis MacAllister‘s (£6.2m) late strike, when the Argentine smashed home the rebound after his header had been cleared.
Van Dijk’s third attacking return in five gameweeks, as well as his second consecutive clean sheet, have led to a rise in demand for his services.
He is even the second most bought player of Gameweek 28 so far:
It’s not just the recent returns in Van Dijk’s favor, it’s also Liverpool’s upcoming games:
Liverpool are third in expected goals conceded (xGC) since the start of December, but in big spells on Sunday, especially in the first half, they looked very sloppy.
LOCK ON WIRTZ
The back problem suffered Florian Wirtz (£8.4m) in the warm-up probably didn’t help as it forced Arne Slot into a last-minute substitution.
Initially named in Liverpool’s starting eleven, the German schemer had to be replaced by Curtis Jones (£5.4 million).
In any case, Slot does not think it is serious, a relief for his 13.9% ownership.
“We don’t think it’s very serious, but he felt too much back pain during the warm-up to start. He wasn’t able to be 100% or even close to 100%. I think after six, seven or eight months of playing in this league, he now understands, no matter how good you are on the ball, you have to be 100% at this level. That’s why we decided not to play him. We hope and expect that he will be back next week could be us, but that will never happen.” know how things work.” – Arne Slot on Florian Wirtz
SALAH’S RECENT FORM
Liverpool had eight days to prepare for this match, while Forest only returned from Istanbul on Friday. You would never have guessed that, however, because the visitors were in their own half for a long time.
It had an impact Muhammad Salah (£14.0m), who created a ‘big chance’ for Jones but failed to register a single shot on target.
He has been racking up the assists lately, but remarkably it has now been nine Premier League games without a goal for the Egyptian.
After 77 minutes his replacement was sent off Ngumoha River (£4.3 million), had a much greater impact.
“The first goal that was disallowed was mainly because of him – and a great cross from Hugo [Ekitike] and normally you would expect that to be a goal. Especially for Hugo, because he is such a good finisher. A good move from him and one against one. That’s what this game needed. Either a set piece, or a moment like this.
“That’s why I signed him. First from the left, where there wasn’t much involvement. Then from the right, where there was a lot more involvement. He’s already playing a big role for a 17-year-old. Tell me where in the Premier League a player has had so many minutes. That tells you what a talent he is and how much we value him.” – Arne Slot is Rio Ngumoha
Hugo Ekitike (£8.9m), meanwhile, missed a very decent chance late on and was generally poor.
One more short word Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.8m) as well. He started at right-back at the City Ground, but in response to problems all over the pitch he moved to a central midfield role half an hour later, dropping Jones to the back four. Liverpool looked a little more solid after that, with Szoboszlai finishing the match with five chances created, the most of any player on Sunday.
Jeremy Frimpong (£5.7m) should also be back for the visit of West Ham United next weekend so he could remain in central midfield.
FOREST UNDER PEREIRA
Above: Nottingham Forest’s average position map against Liverpool
Buoyed by their midweek victory in Turkey, this was a very positive performance from Forest. It ultimately ended in defeat, but make no mistake: Vitor Pereira’s forces were comfortably on top.
If it hadn’t been for an excellent early save Alisson Becker (£5.4 million) to deny Callum Hudson-Odoi (£5.7 million), they would have taken the lead.
Pereira mentioned an unchanged line-up from the team that won at Fenerbahçe Morgan Gibbs White (£7.3m) fantastic in the first half.
Elliot Anderson (£5.4m), however, was the standout.
In an action match, he scored four shots and created two chances. He also picked up three of Forest’s five corners and collected defensive contribution points (DefCon) for the eleventh (!) consecutive Gameweek, a period in which he averaged 4.8 points per start.
Next up for Anderson and co: a home game against Fenerbahce on Thursday, followed by a trip to Brighton and Hove Albion next weekend.
“We are creating. In the first half we crossed a lot of balls in the penalty area and tried to shoot a lot. We tried to create one-on-one situations. Every time we were ready to attack and we didn’t give them any chances. We played very good football. The second half was not the same because it was impossible to have the same energy.” – Vitor Pereira
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