The Scout assesses Mohamed Salah’s (£14.5m) performance in Sunday’s FA Community Shield and the impact of Florian Wirtz's (£8.5m) arrival ahead of the opening Gameweek of 2025/26 Fantasy Premier League.
Salah is no longer the most-owned player in Fantasy after his blank against Crystal Palace at Wembley Stadium, which left him with only one goal throughout pre-season, and a missed penalty in each of his last two matches.
Salah can be found in 53.7 per cent of squads ahead of Gameweek 1’s deadline of 18:30 BST, Friday 15 August.
Chelsea pair Cole Palmer (£10.5m) and Joao Pedro (£7.5m) have now overtaken the Liverpool star, picked by 57.5 and 54.4 per cent respectively.
Salah’s huge ownership means that he will contend with Palmer for the Gameweek 1 captaincy, with Liverpool entertaining AFC Bournemouth at Anfield on Friday evening.
Certainly, there should be no cause for alarm on the back of Sunday’s display. After all, Salah approaches 2025/26 on the back of a record-breaking 344 points last season - over 100 points more than any other player.
However, it is worth noting that Liverpool are changing formation this season following the arrival of Florian Wirtz (£8.5m).
Arne Slot’s side are moving away from their familiar 4-3-3 system to a 4-2-3-1 shape to accommodate the German playmaker at the centre of their attack.
How did Salah compare with Wirtz at Wembley?
Along with Wirtz, Slot handed debuts to summer signings Hugo Ekitike (£8.5m), Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong (both £6.0m) against Crystal Palace.
In the graphic below from Fantasy Football Scout, you can see the areas where Liverpool players received most of their passes. Notably, most of those passes were received down the left-hand side of the pitch.
Heat map of where Liverpool players received passes
This was spearheaded by Ekitike’s movement up front, with the Frenchman’s tendency to drift left when looking to receive the ball helping to create the space for Wirtz to access.
At the back, Kerkez also received the ball in more central areas to help accommodate Wirtz’s movement.
This was in direct contrast to the opposite flank, with the pace of Frimpong dominating the space behind Salah.
Although the numbers below represent a single match of data, Wirtz’s role as the Liverpool playmaker is already easy to see.
He received 55 passes, almost THREE TIMES the total of Salah’s 20. Indeed, Salah's average of just 4.5 minutes per pass received was slower than every other Liverpool player.
Certainly it's way too early to come to any assumptions, but it is worth noting that Salah's total of 20 passes received was lower than ALL of his 38 outings in Slot's debut campaign in 2024/25, when he recorded his season-low of 21 on two occasions.
Liverpool's front four v Palace
Player | Passes received | Passes received final third | Mins per pass received |
---|---|---|---|
Wirtz | 55 | 22 | 1.5 |
Gakpo | 26 | 18 | 3.5 |
Salah | 20 | 14 | 4.5 |
Ekitike | 20 | 13 | 3.4 |
Which Liverpool players had the most attacking threat v Palace?
The attacking threat numbers also help to highlight the immediate impact of Wirtz and Ekitike.
Wirtz created a team-high four chances and also had one shot from outside the box. Ekitike's three shots placed top for Slot's side, as did his two big chances - situations where the player is expected to score.
Kerkez and Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.5m) also featured prominently. The latter played as the left-sided central midfielder, a further illustration of Liverpool's reliance on that side of the pitch.
Szoboszlai's two shots and three chances created means he was involved in a total of five of Liverpool's shots - joint-top with Wirtz.
Salah, by contrast, created no chances and had only one shot - which came after Wirtz was substituted late on. Last season he had at least two shots in 33 of his 38 appearances.
Liverpool players' attacking threat v Palace
Player | Shots | Shots in box | Chance created | Shot involvement |
---|---|---|---|---|
Szoboszlai | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
Wirtz | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
Kerkez | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
Ekitike | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
Frimpong, Gakpo | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Mac Allister | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Salah | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
The table below shows the only match where Salah failed to have a single shot last season was against Arsenal in Gameweek 36, when the Reds had already secured the title.
When you factor in his chances created, there was only ONE match all last season where, like against Palace on Sunday, Salah was only involved in one shot - either creating it or taking the shot himself. That was at home to Merseyside rivals Everton in Gameweek 30.
Salah's lowest involvement in shots 24/25
Gameweek | Opponent | Shots | Chances created |
---|---|---|---|
36 | Arsenal (H) | 0 | 2 |
30 | Everton (H) | 1 | 0 |
31 | Fulham (A) | 1 | 2 |
35 | Chelsea (A) | 1 | 2 |
32 | West Ham (H) | 1 | 3 |
What could you do if you DON'T have Salah?
Going without Salah opens up a range of options, including getting Erling Haaland (£14.0m).
Another interesting option would be to have NEITHER of the two most-expensive players, picking the likes of Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) and Bruno Fernandes (£9.0m) instead in a star-studded midfield, while also bolstering your bench.
Here's what that could look like.
So, should FPL managers consider going without Salah?
To reiterate, there is no cause for concern until we get a clearer picture of Liverpool's attack for this season, with Alexander Isak (£10.5m) heavily linked with a move to the club.
What we do know right now is that Salah remains on penalties and, as evidenced on Sunday, looks guaranteed more minutes than his fellow Reds attackers.
When you add his high ownership to the equation, Salah is still the best Liverpool attacker to own at the start of the season, where it's all about limiting the risks.
As the campaign unfolds and Slot's new-look attack start to gel, managers will get a better idea whether the Egyptian's output will be diluted by the new 4-2-3-1 formation.