Sadio Mane- The Man In Form
It was back in the game against Newcastle that the Senegalese showcased his best form. Liverpool cruised past Newcastle United with a 3-1 victory at Anfield to maintain their 100% winning start, to the 2019/20 Premier League season. The attacking duo of Sadio Mane and Mohammed Salah continued to fire all cylinders out for the Reds and for all the FPL Managers backing the duo since the start of the season
Goals: Sadio Mane (£11.6m) x 2, Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) x 1 | Jetro Willems (£4.5m)
Assists: Roberto Firmino (£9.5m) x 2, Andrew Robertson (£6.9m)
Bonus Points: Mane x 3 Salah x 2 Firmino x 1
The Senegal international opened the scoring for the Reds after a top-notch top corner finish assisted by Andrew Robertson before being cancelled out by an equally special effort by Jetro Williams beating Adrian after some sloppy defending by Trent Alexander Arnold.
Priced at £11.6m now, a whole £0.9m less than his counterpart Salah, Mané’s brace alongside three bonus points means that he has now registered two double-digit hauls in 2019/20 – the same as his team-mate. Mane started the match through the middle with Origi on the left but the Senegalese grew into the match after a tactical switch by Klopp and shifting him over to the left flank.
Despite Salah also scoring in the victory over Newcastle, Mane’s appeal simply continues to grow given his attractive price and an ability to match the £12.5m man. Mane scored his second on the afternoon after some sloppy work by the Newcastle keeper Martin Dubravka but made no mistake tucking the ball away.
Salah did not have a particularly impressive afternoon but however, the most captained player for Gameweek 5 lived up to pre-match expectation with a well-taken 3rd goal for the Reds to put the game out of Magpies’ reach.
It was another frustrating afternoon for owners of Liverpool’s full-back duo Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, with yet another failure to keep a clean-sheet coupled by a number of missed attacking opportunities.
Although Robertson registered his 1st attacking return of the season, TAA looked the most impressive and to be fair should’ve come out of the game with a brace and an assist.
TAA had a total xG of 0.60, higher than the likes of Raheem Sterling in game-week 5. With just one clean sheet in their first five Premier League fixtures, it is becoming difficult to justify investing in more than one of their defenders. Klopp initially surprised Fantasy managers with his team selection, starting Divock Origi and dropping Roberto Firmino to the bench after the Brazilian finished international duty in America in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
However, Firmino was on the pitch after 35 minutes with Origi forced off with an ankle problem. The centre-forward was probably the star on the pitch setting up both Sadio Mane and Mohammed Salah to register an 8 point return off the bench. Newcastle’s own attacking assets staked their claim after Willems opened the scoring with a fine strike in the seventh minute.
After receiving a through ball from Christian Atsu, the full-back found space in front of Alexander-Arnold, who gave the wingback far too much space and drilled an outstanding strike beyond the reach of Adrian. Steve Bruce set up the Tyneside outfit in a compact formation that enabled the likes of Jonjo Shelvey and Miguel Almiron to form counter-attacks to feed Joelinton, but the attacking overload that Liverpool are so often able to provide was too much for the Magpies.
Newcastle after taking the early lead were hopeful of replicating a result that they had against Spurs, but Liverpool had too much firepower in the form of Sadio Mane and Mohammed Salah to disappoint the Magpies’ fans on the day as they cruised to an impressive victory.
Since The Game-
Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool (Attacker to watch out for Firmino)
Sheffield United 0-1 Liverpool (Trio failed)
Liverpool 2-1 Leicester City (Sadio Mane)
Manchester United vs Liverpool
With the two English giants set to face off against each other, Mane is the key player to have in your team at present. He is also the best possible skipper at present for your FPL side.
The Red Devils have struggled in the recent weeks and might get slaughtered once again, in this upcoming fixture. Due to this, it will be a good option to have as many Liverpool attackers as possible in the team. Mane and Firmino would be my choice to include, along with Arnold or Robertson possibly (TAA preferred).
A maximum of three players can be taken from one team, though for this fixture, that is a minus point. Unless United spring up a huge surprise after the international break, it should be an easy win for the visitors.
