ALLABOUTFPL TEAM IN FOCUS:LIVERPOOL

The dust still hasn’t set down on the Champions League triumph of last year but Liverpool have started the season off to a flyer. With 8 wins from 8 this Liverpool side has looked unbeatable. They had a rather quiet transfer window and why not. Their core still remains in-tact with all their stars hungry for more success after they narrowly missed out on the most coveted prize that they are chasing for three decades by a solitary point last season. They added a couple of potential future stars to their squad and a replacement GK in the form of Adrian for the departed Simon Mignolet. Oh boy what a start to his Liverpool career! With their main rivals Man City having dropped points again after last week’s defeat to Wolves, Liverpool are sitting pretty on the top of the table with an eight-point cushion. Bright times in the offing for Jurgen Klopp’s men who have their best ever chance to end the three decade wait for the Premier League.

ALLABOUTLIVERPOOL:

• FIXTURES
• STYLE OF PLAY
• KEY PLAYERS
• STATS CORNER
• ALLABOUTFPL VERDICT

FIXTURES:

• MAN UTD VS LIVERPOOL
• LIVERPOOL VS SPURS
• ASTON VILLA VS LIVERPOOL
• LIVERPOOL VS MAN CITY
• LIVERPOOL VS BRIGHTON

PLAYING STYLE

Liverpool have always employed a 4-3-3 with minor tweaks in between every match. This season they have played 720 mins with this system which has become the norm for Klopp´s team. With the full backs getting record number of assists last season they have started with the same system. Their midfield is compact allowing the full backs to push up the pitch to whip in the crosses that they do with perfection. With Fabinho, Klopp has got one of the best DMs in the world doing all the dirty work. This has allowed Henderson to move further up supporting the fantastic up-front trio who have already scored 12 goals between them while providing 7 assists as well. Having Samba Star Firmino in the team Klopp has got the freedom to play literally any system he likes.

KEY PLAYERS

• Roberto Firmino
• Fabinho Tavares
• Virgil van Dijk

Roberto “Bobby” Firmino:

WHAT CAN´T FIRMINO DO?

The NO-LOOK man is the gun powder to the bullets that Liverpool fire away. Like Jurgen once said Bobby is the system. He is as important to this Liverpool side as a heart is to a human. He never gets applauds nor recognitions because Salah and Mane rack up all of them. But all the coaches and the managers know how precious it is to have a player like Firmino in their team. Off late he has been getting the identity he deserves. He is not a striker, nor a centre forward, not a number 10 as well, but a mixture of everything.

He has got outrageous skills like the assist he gave for Salah against Newcastle. He has got xA (passes that lead to a shot on goal) of 3.00 per 90 mins second only to Trent in the team.  He has already got 10 bonus points in FPL in only 8GWs. he averages 1.5 key passes per game as well. With highlz competitive matches coming up in the next five GWs he would be dearly needed by Klopp and Co. to unlock defences.

FABINHO:

When he came in last season everyone thought he costed more that he should have but now he is being viewed as a coup at 40m euros. He had to wait almost 4 months to get his first start for Liverpool even though he was fit. Imagine a 40m purchase not even in the match day squad but he worked his socks off and is reaping his rewards now. Fernandinho was the best DM in the league in 2017-2018 but this man was simply scintillating last season giving Fernandinho a proper battle. With his long legs he instantly breaks play and sets Liverpool on the offensive break.

He averages 4 tackles per game this season not to forget 2 interceptions per game. He has a pass success % of 88 per game as well. He is a handy centre back as well when Klopp put him there against Bayern last season where Liverpool managed to keep a clean sheet. He does all the clean up required for the team because Liverpool hold a very high line since the introduction of VAR. 

VIRGIL VAN DIJK:

Last season PFA Player of the year has started from where he left off. Van Dijk has been unparallelly important for Liverpool since his 75m switch from Southampton. He didn’t put his price tag into his head and was Calm as You Like delivering performance after performance justifying why Klopp waited to get him. The transfer fee seemed way too high when the transfer actually happened but now it seems like nothing. The once world´s costliest defender went on to get the best Player of the Year as well beating the likes of Messi and Ronaldo. It has been a dream year for him.

He was the missing piece of the puzzle that Liverpool were searching for since the departure of Carragher. The calmness that he shows on the ball is second to none. Imagine being not dribbled past for 40 odd games. Insane stat that. He broke innumerable records last season. The stats say for itself. He averages 5 clearances and 2 blocks per game. The start to this season has not been like last season with Liverpool having shipped 6 goals already managing to keep only 2 clean sheets. He needs to step up a little to get back to where he was last season but still Liverpool are managing to grind out wins. With Alisson set to get back in goal against Man Utd, Van Dijk has his work cut out. Liverpool are not at their best since Van Dijk is not yet at his best this season, when he sorts it out Liverpool would be unbeatable.

STATS CORNER:

• Liverpool are unbeaten at Anfield in 44 games-two seasons in a row the last defeat being against Crystal Palace in April 2017.
• Liverpool have won 17 games on the bounce and will hope to make it record equalling 18 against Man Utd this weekend.
• TAA and Robertson have a combined 25 assists from the start of last season the best ever full back assist combination with TAA getting the Guinness record for it as well.
• Out of the next 5 games, 3 are against top sides- Man United, Spurs and Man City.
• Liverpool haven’t beaten United at Old Trafford for the past 5 seasons in the Premier League. They will hope to break that stat this weekend.
• Mo Salah averages 3.0 key passes per game for the past couple of seasons. He will be hoping to get a hat-trick of golden boots.

ALLABOUTFPL VERDICT:

With Liverpool not hitting top form yet but still having got max points it will be interesting to see how they perform in the next 5 fixtures. With the attacking trio not putting away all the chances they got till now, they will be determined to start scoring more with the defence hoping to keep more clean sheets. If they are able to keep up the mettle of grinding results out, we will be witnessing something special that the world hasn’t seen for the last 3 decades.

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