FPL notes: Konate injury concern + Kamara to boost Villa defence?

Liverpool and Aston Villa enjoyed positive results in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday night.

The Reds can lay claim to being the best team in Europe after outclassing Real Madrid in a 2-0 home win that keeps them flying high atop the giant Champions League group phase table after five wins from five.

Villa, meanwhile, suffered late heartbreak as they extended their winless streak to six matches. The goalless draw with Juventus was at least a creditable outcome and keeps them well-placed to finish in the top eight, but the match finished on a sour note as Unai Emery’s side had a last-minute goal by Morgan Rogers (£5.4m) ruled out for a ‘Champions League’ foul.

We pick out the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from both fixtures in these Scout Notes.

TUESDAY’S RESULTS

TEAM SELECTION/ROTATION

MAC ALLISTER INSPIRES, BRADLEY SHINES

Liverpool laid down a significant marker to the elite European teams by overcoming Real Madrid 2-0 at Anfield.

They didn’t just win this game, they gave Real a lesson, outshooting them by 18 attempts to nine.

Arne Slot can do no wrong at the moment and the selection of Alexis Mac Allister (£6.2m) and Luis Diaz (£7.6m), in for Dominik Szoboslai (£6.3m) and Cody Gakpo (£7.1m), who had started in the 3-2 win at Southampton in Gameweek 12, proved masterstrokes.

Mac Allister pulled the strings expertly in midfield throughout, picking out Darwin Nunez (£7.1m) with a delightful clipped pass for a deft header that skimmed just wide. Nunez was also twice denied by the excellent Thibault Courtois before the break and a Raul Asencio goal-line clearance.

It was McAllister who gave Liverpool the lead, combining beautifully in a give-and-go with Conor Bradley (£4.7m) to fire the opening goal across goal from just inside the area. The Argentinian then teed up Bradley, impressing at right-back, for a headed chance which Courtois saved brilliantly.

If Bradley’s assist was impressive his recovering tackle on Kylian Mbappe was sensational. The 21-year-old ran fully 40 yards to chase down the Frenchman and deliver a crunching tackle that brought an enormous roar from the Kop.

No Kelleher quandary for Slot

Mbappe was out of sorts, and he fluffed his lines after Luca Vasquez won a penalty when tumbling over a fictitious foul by Andrew Robertson (£5.9m). Caiohmin Kelleher (£4.5m) pulled off an outstanding save to keep his side in front. 

Kelleher is playing so well just now it’s legitimate to wonder whether it might be a struggle for Alisson to win his place back.

Slot, however, doesn’t seem to be in any such dilemma.

“I’ve been clear about that situation but tonight shouldn’t be about that, it should be about Caoimh being so important for us. It was a big moment for him also I think; if you see Mbappe behind the ball, I thought probably what everybody thought – and what everybody also thought when Mo stepped up – ‘This ball is probably going to go in’. And he saved it, so it was a big moment for him, a special moment for him. So, let that be the headlines and not the other thing I was quite clear about one or two weeks ago.” – Arne Slot on Kelleher’s display

For the record, this is what Slot said a fortnight ago:

“I have always been quite clear, that’s always been the position of Alisson. He is and will be our first goalkeeper if he is fit. But first he needs to be fit.” – Arne Slot on goalkeeping pecking order

Sloppy Salah

It was not Mohamed Salah’s (£13.1m) finest hour. He did brilliantly to win a penalty when he raced on to an exquisite Luis Diaz pass, cut in from the right and bewitched Ferland Mendy Into a trip. His spot-kick was not quite as magical, though. Courtois dived the wrong way but Salah, opting for power, lashed his shot wide off the foot of the post.

No matter, Slot’s side doubled their lead on 76 minutes when Robertson took a short corner before and curled a delicious cross into the area for Gakpo to plant past Courtois. A reminder, perhaps that in the absence of Trent-Alexander Arnold’s (£6.9m) assists there exists a Liverpool full-back capable of delivering attacking returns.

Bradley would fall into this category if he played more, but the Northern Irishman has only one start this season, and pulled up with a hamstring injury which could keep him out for a while. Alexander-Arnold was an unused substitute for this one, so looks poised for a Gameweek 13 return.

“I think it’s nice for him, nice for his family, nice for us but it’s also very nice for the Academy, that a player that comes through the ranks at the Academy does so well. And not only him – Caoimh was outstanding today, Curtis [Jones] was outstanding today. 

“Probably all of them were outstanding but to have three Academy players in your team doing so well is also a big compliment for the Academy this club has. And Conor did very well. But I’m totally not surprised by him doing so well because he showed this already last season and showed this in this season in training sessions and in games as well. So, very nice for him.” – Arne Slot on Bradley and Kelleher

Konate concern

Of greater concern is the fact that Ibrahima Konate (£5.4m) limped off at the end of the match. So far this season Liverpool have been fortunate on the injury front, but with Kostas Tsimikas (£4.6m), Bradley and potentially also Konate out, and Alexander-Arnold, Liverpool’s defence isn’t perhaps in tip-top condition for a Super Sunday clash.

• READ MORE: Arne Slot’s latest commets on Konate and Bradley

An excellent performance then from Liverpool, who take on crisis-hit Manchester City with their tails up. Curtis Jones (£5.3m) and Luis Diaz deserve mentions for their lively attacking displays, in which they each produced four shots with respective xGs of 0.39 and 0.39. They should both keeps their place for the big City showdown. Could Diaz even take the place of Nunez, as he did for the final quarter of this match?

“I think we controlled the first half with creating a few chances, but I also thought we were still a bit sloppy, so we lost the ball in very easy situations or we forced it a bit too much. I said, ‘Try to be even more patient, let the gaps open up instead of forcing them.’ Then it helps if, the first seven minutes after half-time I think we had total dominance, they even didn’t come across the halfway line. If you score a goal like this, then we were flying, if you want to put it like this.” – Arne Slot, Liverpool head coach

KAMARA TO STIFFEN UP VILLA’S DEFENCE?

There was not quite so much goalmouth action at Villa Park but there was plenty of incident and lessons to be learnt from the goalless draw against Juventus.

Emery made three changes to the side, bringing in Matty Cash (£4.4m) and Lucas Digne (£4.7m) in place of Lamare Bogarde (£4.0m) and Ian Maatsen (£4.7m). Both full-backs helped to strengthen a side who were held 2-2 against Crystal Palace on Gameweek 12 and offered plenty of attacking threat here. Indeed Digne was unlucky to see his curling free-kick come back off the bar on the stroke of half-time.

The biggest difference maker for Villa, though was the return of Boubacar Kamara (£5.0m), who has played only 33 minutes this season due to injury. The Frenchman, selected ahead of Ross Barkley (£5.2m), was deployed as one of the central defensive midfielders alongside Youri Tielemans (£5.5m) in a 4-2-3-1 and was superb.

Villa have looked defensively suspect this season, keeping only one clean sheet in the Premier League, and shipping 19, making their defence the sixth worst in the division. But against Juventus, Villa looked more balanced and Juve only really threatened on three occasions of note.

All of them came from the dangerous Francisco Conceicao, whose dazzling dribbling twice created problems down the right, with Emiliano Martinez (£5.0m) saving at his near post for one, and Pau Torres (£4.4m) getting away with a handball when clearing the other. 

The third chance was the best chance of the night, and Villa were indebted to a miraculous save from Martinez, who somehow clawed the ball back from behind him, as it was crossing the line, following a free header at a corner that Conceicao should never have been given the freedom of the penalty area to attempt.

ROGERS ON THE LEFT

Other than that, Villa had the upper hand, executing a patient gameplan which was to catch the Serie A giants out on the break. The plan proved effective as the hosts had 11 goal attempts to Juve’s eight and conjured better quality chances as their xG of 0.86 to 0.42 bears out. 

Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) had two efforts well saved, the best of them from a delightful through-ball by Kamara, who showed good vision as well as defensive discipline. In the second half John McGinn (£5.2m) was unlucky not to score after brilliant wing play by Leon Bailey (£6.3m), whose cut-back the Scot fired goalwards only for Manuel Locatelli to intervene.

Villa looked the likelier winners as the half wore on with Morgan Rogers (£5.4m), deployed on the left flank, showing great energy as everyone else began to tire. His crossing let him down too frequently but he persevered and thought he had scored at the death. Well, he did score, from close range, after Michele Di Gregorio spilled Tielemans’ free-kick at his feet, under pressure form Diego Carlos (£4.5m). But Uefa is as Uefa does and, although the referee had awarded the original goal, good old VAR had to step in to poop Villa’s party.

“It was fantastic. We needed one match like this, playing seriously with a clean sheet, defending strong, being compact and then trying to impose and dominate some areas of the match.

“We didn’t create a lot of chances but we didn’t concede a lot of chances. We were closer to scoring than they were and in the second half we were progressively getting better.

“We needed one save from Emiliano, a fantastic save, but even in the last action, in England it’s a goal, in Europe it’s not. That’s the decision of the referee.” – Emery pleased with the point 

Villa remain winless in six but they will be encouraged by this display, which showed greater defensive resolve, and might encourage managers with an eye on a goalkeeper (Martinez was brilliant again) or a defender who offers attacking returns. 

THE UPSIDE OF DIGNE… FOUR DAYS AFTER THE DOWNSIDE

Lucas Digne had two shots against the Bianconeri, hitting the woodwork with one. He has returned in three of his last five Premier League matches and offers a threat with his pinpoint crossing and his set-piece ability. After Gameweek 13, seven of Villa’s next 10 fixtures score only two on FPL’s Fixture Difficulty Rating, and the defence should be strengthened too by the imminent return of Ezri Konsa (£4.4m). He was on the bench here.

Of course, with Maatsen knocking around and lots of fixtures to negotiate in December, you simply won’t be able to guarantee he starts all seven league games over the next month or so.

Those favourable fixtures also make Watkins worthy of consideration, if you can swallow his annoying price point. He had two shots against Juventus, with the best xG (0.25) of anyone on the pitch and ended his mini-goal drought in Gameweek 12. 

Bailey (0.10) and McGinn (0.22) also had two shots each, like Digne, but don’t offer the level of consistent goal threat Rogers does. That said, the former Middlesbrough man, who features in 21.8% Fantasy teams, had no shots against Juventus (excluding his disallowed goal). 

If Emery persists with him on the left, his attacking output could be compromised. It’s a small sample size but his delivery from wide was particularly poor – so potential Rogers replacements are something to keep an eye on.