While I am sure that the game between Tottenham and Manchester City on Monday will impact plenty of fantasy matchups, the most important team of the weekend has probably already been established.
Liverpool beat Cardiff City 4-1 on Saturday, and if you had Mohamed Salah as your Tier 1 forward, and/or Sadio Mane as your Tier 1 midfielder, you're probably in good shape -- especially if you captained either of them. Mane scored two goals on Saturday, and Salah had a goal and two assists. They are currently second and fourth in the league in fantasy points this week, respectively, with both having accumulated over 30.
I had Salah on my team and captained him, as I recommended in my Friday picks column. I wish I had chosen Mane as well, but I took the risk that Eden Hazard would be fit enough to play on Sunday. Hazard ended up being out, so now I'll be going with one of the Manchester City midfielders -- which could still work out very well, of course.
But let's get back to Liverpool, who on Monday morning find themselves top of the table on 26 points, after eight wins and two draws from their first 10 games. They've scored 20 goals so far this season, which is pretty good, although three teams have scored more -- Chelsea and Arsenal have 24 goals in the same amount of games, and Manchester City has 26 in one fewer contest. Perhaps more importantly, Liverpool has conceded only four goals. Manchester City are the only team better, having conceded three in nine games.
Last Monday, I wrote about how important Manchester City is when building your fantasy team. Well, obviously Liverpool is pretty important, too.
Looking at the overall fantasy scorers list on Monday morning, Salah has climbed to second overall with 156.9 points. He's still well behind Hazard (192.6), who has also played one fewer game, and Sergio Agüero (153.0) will almost certainly pass him on Monday. Still, Salah is clearly a player to consider choosing each and every week.
There's been lots of criticism of Salah recently, with many people speculating that perhaps he would be a one-season wonder, with last season's Premier League record of 32 goals being nothing more than a fluke.
Well, that's certainly a rush to judgement! Salah is now up to five goals and three assists through the first 10 weeks of this season. Do you recall what Salah's numbers were through the first 10 weeks of last season? Five goals and two assists.
The underlying stats look good as well. Salah has taken 40 shots. Only Agüero (44) has taken more. Salah is also second in shots on target with 17, behind only Paul Pogba (19), and second in expected goals (6.53) behind only Agüero (6.73).
Salah is also tied for ninth in chances created with 20, six more than both Agüero and Pogba, and he's now scored four goals in his past three games -- including Liverpool's most recent Champions League fixture. Salah appears to be heating up, and putting his doubters to shame.
Mane is now up to six league goals on the season and ranks No. 10 overall with 130.6 fantasy points. He's another player you should at least think about each and every week. Mane also scored a goal in Liverpool's latest Champions League fixture, but prior to that, he had gone six straight games without a goal or assist.
He's only taken 22 shots, barely half as many as Salah. He also only has 11 chances created -- again, barely half as many as Salah. Mane's expected goals total is only 3.29. For me, Mane is a situational play. I'd select him when playing against weaker opponents, like Cardiff City, but I probably wouldn't choose his when Liverpool is up against one of the top teams. Remember, this is a player whose Premier League career-high is 13 goals.
As for the third member of Liverpool's front three, Roberto Firmino is off to a very disappointing start fantasy-wise. Here we have a player who had 15 goals and seven assists in the Premier League last season -- five more goals than Mane -- and a spectacular 10 goals and seven assists in 13 Champions League games.
So far in the Premier League this season, Firmino has just two goals and two assists. He's taken just 16 shots, and has only 12 chances created. Firmino is not worth considering as your Tier 1 forward right now, especially given that Salah is in the same tier.
At the other end of the pitch, Andrew Robertson is one of the better options at Tier 1 defender. He's a fullback who likes to get forward, and already has two assists this season. Robertson also has 13 chances created, and is averaging 10.69 fantasy points per game, but he was rested this past weekend.
Alisson, Liverpool's new goalkeeper, has kept six clean sheets in his first 10 league games, currently tying him with Ederson of Manchester City for the league lead. He really should have picked up his seventh on Saturday, as Cardiff City only had two shots in the game, and scored with their only shot on target. What's worse, the cross that set up the goal took a massive deflection off Liverpool center back Virgil van Dijk, putting the ball on a platter for Cardiff's Callum Paterson to finish.
Next up for Liverpool? They have an away game at Arsenal next Saturday, which is not going to be easy. Salah might very well be my Tier 1 forward again, but I probably won't choose any other Liverpool players.
The game after that, however, is at home against Fulham, who have conceded 28 goals -- five more than any other team. At the very least, give me Salah, Mane and Robertson, if not more. I can virtually guarantee my fantasy team will be stocked with Liverpool players that week -- and yours should be, too.