Liverpool’s easy 3-0 victory fuels their persistent pursuit of a top-four finish, but also drops weak Leicester to 19th position with only two games remaining. While the Foxes managed only four shots all night, Curtis Jones’ (£4.9m) quick-fire first-half double was later completed by a miraculous Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.7m) free-ƙιcƙ.
Streak continues for Trent stunner
The newly inverted right-back has earned FPL points in eight straight games, doing so in two different methods this time. After a determined Leicester team started off with excellent intentions, the clean sheet quickly became evident, and Alexander-Arnold increased his personal point total to 13 with a beautiful set-piece curl into the top right corner.
With their third straight victory, Liverpool now appears to have a better chance than Manchester United or Newcastle United of earning a Champions League spot. They only need to defeat already-relegated Southampton (a) and Aston Villa (h), hoping for a mistake from above.
Since switching to the center in Gameweek 30, only Alexander-Arnold has more assists than three other defenders combined.
Hat-тгιcƙ of supports for Salah
His 54 points over this time frame, though, are still less than teammate Mohamed Salah’s (£13.1m) 68, as the Egyptian king scored three goals to earn his third consecutive double-digit haul.
Although these were his first assists since the 7-0 thrashing of Man United in Gameweek 26, Salah was denied bonus points because he missed a golden opportunity when put through one-on-one in the 79th minute.
With 12 goals and 6 assists in his last 15 starts, combined with two missed penalties, he has the most penalty area touches and expected goals (xG) since Gameweek 30.
Even though Liverpool only plays once in Double Gameweek 37, Salah’s great performance may convince a larger percentage of the top 100k to give him the captain’s hat.
Pieces and bits
For the third time in four games, Diogo Jota (£8.7 million) was only allowed to make a cameo appearance because fellow attacker Darwin Nunez (£8.6 million) was out with a slight toe ι𝚗jᴜгy.
“Yesterday we trained and he looked OK and then after training he said he feels something in his foot, in his big toe. No, I don’t think [it will end his season], the session didn’t look like that but after the session he felt it more than before and so we have to assess that in more detail.” – Jurgen Klopp on Darwin Nunez
Concern at Leicester’s lack of оffе𝚗ꜱιᴠе ideas in this game may be felt by those considering gambling on an attacking Leicester asset for their last game against West Ham United. They were merely awful and don’t seem to have the same late momentum as Everton and Nottingham Forest. The Foxes are two points from safety and have a better goal differential, but they have gone an astonishing 21 games without recording a shutout.
The 2016–17 champions’ challenging trip to Newcastle may now be seen as a must–win.