What Klopp said about Jota’s injury – and is Mane being unfairly overlooked in FPL?

We continue our Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Gameweek 12 Scout Notes with analysis of Liverpool v Arsenal.

For a briefer summary of Saturday’s action, click here, while you can read up on Manchester City v Everton and Tottenham Hotspur v Leeds United in more detail below.

• READ MORE: Richarlison to miss Gameweek 13 as Cancelo keeps up fine FPL form
• READ MORE: How Spurs’ assets fared in Gameweek 12

Liverpool 4-0 Arsenal

• Goals: Sadio Mane (£11.9m), Diogo Jota (£7.5m), Mohamed Salah (£13.0m), Takumi Minamino (£5.1m)
• Assists: Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.8m) x2, Mane
• Bonus: Alexander-Arnold x3, Mane x2, Alisson (£6.0m) x1

JOTA INJURY NEWS

Diogo Jota (£7.5m) found the net in Liverpool’s 4-0 win over Arsenal but took a blow to his knee in a second-half collision with Aaron Ramsdale (£4.8m), carrying on playing for 15 minutes before being replaced and heading straight down the tunnel at Anfield.

“Diogo went off and he got a proper knock on his knee – they went knee to knee, I think. Now we have to see how quickly that develops in the right direction and hopefully, it is nothing serious, that would be very important.” – Jurgen Klopp

We should get an update from Klopp on the player’s fitness on Tuesday, ahead of the midweek UEFA Champions League tie against Porto.

There will be plenty else on the fitness front for the Liverpool boss to discuss in his pre-match presser: Andrew Robertson (£7.0m) failed to recover from a hamstring injury for the thrashing of the Gunners, allowing budget defender Kostas Tsimikas (£3.9m) a start, while Divock Origi (£4.9m) missed out through illness.

Roberto Firmino (£8.8m) is expected to remain sidelined for a little while but Naby Keita (£5.0m) and James Milner (£4.9m) had previously been earmarked for a return this week, something that Klopp may have been hinting at in his post-match conference call.

“Some players have a little chance to come back for Wednesday, I think – that would be great. After that, step by step hopefully they can come back and then we have more players available, which is absolutely helpful when you play every three days.” – Jurgen Klopp

MORE OF MINAMINO?

Firmino’s injury is, of course, a big reason why Jota’s FPL appeal has increased heading into the winter calendar, given that the two have typically shared game-time in the centre-forward role of Klopp’s attacking trident.

But it’s still worth remembering that the Liverpool boss has other options he can turn to besides Jota as the Reds head into a packed schedule of nine league matches, two Champions League fixtures and one EFL Cup tie in the space of 40 days.

Origi and Takumi Minamino (£5.1m) found the net in Gameweeks 11 and 12 respectively, with the Japan international emerging from the bench against Arsenal to score within seconds of replacing Jota.

“You can’t imagine how happy I am with Taki, he is in an incredible moment and he was actually our solution for pretty much four positions to change, I think, because that’s how the squad looked. It was like he could have played first five positions – he could have played both eight positions and then all three up front. He is in a really good moment, you see that, he played for Japan in the international games and now he is here and very important for us. Everybody was so happy for him that he scored the goal. The way he played today reflects really good how he trains in the moment. He will have games, there is no doubt about that.” – Jurgen Klopp

It may be that starts for Origi and Minamino occur in the two ‘dead rubber’ Champions League ties over the next few weeks and in that EFL Cup quarter-final shortly before Christmas but Klopp does have previous for resting even his big guns in the league in December, with Mohamed Salah (£13.0m), Sadio Mane (£11.9m), Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.8m) and Robertson all occasionally warming the bench during recent festive fixture pile-ups.

The budget pair will, of course, come even more into the thinking when Salah and Mane leave for Cameroon in just over a month’s time.

MANE OVERLOOKED

There’s little left to say on the superlative Salah, whose goal on Saturday means that he has only blanked once in his 12 appearances this season and has already registered over two-thirds of the attacking returns that he managed in the whole of 2020/21.

There haven’t been nearly so many column inches devoted to Mane, however, despite the Senegal international sitting second (only to his runaway teammate) among FPL midfielders for points.

Mane’s goal against Mikel Arteta’s side means that he has delivered a goal and/or an assist in every home league fixture this season and yet his ownership sits at just 4.3% overall and 0.4% in the top 10k.

While no-one would advocate Mane replacing Salah in our sides, he has still been overlooked for that second problem premium position in most Fantasy squads.

Bettering Harry Kane (£12.2m), Romelu Lukaku (£11.5m), Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.4m), Jamie Vardy (£10.6m) and Son Heung-min (£10.4m) for overall points and points per match, the Senegalese winger also can’t be beaten by any of tat group for goals scored.

While he has perhaps been unfairly disregarded in the season to date, the ship may have sailed for now.

A Firmino-free Jota offers a saving of over £4.0m to the Liverpool attacking double-up, while Mane – along with Salah – will depart for the Africa Cup of Nations potentially as early as Gameweek 20 and could miss up to five league fixtures.

And owning one of Kane, Lukaku, Ronaldo or Vardy does mean that the premium forwards, as misfiring as they currently are, can be easily interchanged upon dips in form or fixture swings (eg Kane to Ronaldo in Gameweek 16).

The fixtures for Mane do remain positive, at least, until a departure for Africa towards New Year:

TAA MORE THREATENING THAN EVER

Alexander-Arnold’s phenomenal start to the season continued with a fifth double-digit haul in 10 appearances.

The right-back has now delivered just under half of the points he managed in the whole of 2020/21 (79 v 160) and is 27 points ahead of where he was in his best-ever campaign, 2019/20.

ALEXANDER-ARNOLD’S RECORD AFTER GAMEWEEK 12 IN PREVIOUS SEASONS

The England international almost scored himself from open play on Saturday, later banking two assists, and his rate of goal attempts (2.0) and penalty box touches (2.5) per match is better than in any of his previous seasons. Simply put, this might be the most threatening incarnation of Alexander-Arnold we’ve even seen – something the player himself alluded to after the game:

“I’m feeling good out there, playing with freedom. I’m finding myself in positions that I haven’t previously found myself in and I’m being able to hurt the opposition.” – Trent Alexander-Arnold

ARSENAL OUTCLASSED

Owners of Arsenal players wouldn’t have been expecting too much from the trip to Anfield and, despite a spirited first-half display, the Gunners were shown up to be what they currently are: an improving side but ultimately one that is a class below Klopp’s troops.

“We competed really well in the first half – they had their moments, we had our moments. We were really compact and used the ball in the right way to create some situations. We had a goal disallowed and then we conceded a goal from a set play. In the second half, when we had to build some momentum and start to grow [into] the match, we threw it away in the first 15 to 20 minutes.

“They were better than us for 90 minutes and that’s the level. They’ve been together for six years and today you could see the difference in the moment that we lost control of the game.

“At the moment, they are better than us.” – Mikel Arteta

A much more favourable test awaits the north Londoners in Gameweek 13, with a Newcastle side who have yet to keep a clean sheet in 2021/22 up next. No club has conceded more Premier League goals or ‘big chances’ than the Magpies, whose defensive deficiencies were again in evidence against Brentford despite the change in manager.

The likes of Emile Smith Rowe (£5.9m), Bukayo Saka (£6.3m) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£9.9m), who wasted the visitors’ only real clear opening of the game, will get a great chance to get back to scoring ways, then, although the prospects of Nuno Tavares (£4.3m) keeping his place at left-back may have taken a hit after a poor display on Merseyside.

Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Thiago (Morton 84‘), Fabinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Henderson 77’); Salah, Jota (Minamino 76‘), Mane.

Arsenal XI: Ramsdale; Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Tavares; Saka, Partey (Elneny 84‘), Lokonga (Maitland-Niles 54’), Smith Rowe; Lacazette (Odegard 66‘), Aubameyang.