Welcome to The Draft Society’s team-by-team previews, a vital part of the 23/24 Draft Kit! These articles will provide a one-stop-shop for all the important Fantasy EPL themes from a Fantrax perspective. With players to watch, players to avoid, points projections and early season fixtures analysis, we've got it all covered. Our Draft Premier League Team Previews will help set you up to dominate your draft! Let's dive into Jurgen Klopp's new-look Liverpool team.
Check back often! Our team previews will be updated throughout the summer as any new transfer, injury, or rotation developments come to light.
Check out our 23/24 Draft Kit for all the pre-season information you could ever need. We've got a Live Draft Aide, Draft Rankings, Team Previews, Cheat Sheets, Strategy Articles, Draft 101, plus so much more!
Liverpool Team Preview 23/24
Check out our in-depth look at Liverpool's prospects for the new EPL season below. This information will form a key component to your draft prep and set you up to dominate your draft! Let's begin with a look at how Liverpool's' struggles last season translated to fantasy points.
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Fantasy Flashback
Let's review how Liverpool players fared in 22/23, with an emphasis on their Draft Premier League fantasy assets. But, we'll also discuss any pertinent info regarding managerial tactics, formation, injuries, etc. What can we learn from their performance in the last campaign?
Note: The following table is interactive. Desktop users can apply the Filter, Group, and Sort buttons to arrange the data to their preferences. Mobile users can tap on a player card to view all data points. The table can be reset to its default state by refreshing the page.
Despite the team not living up to expectations last season, the usual protagonists in Salah and Alexander-Arnold ended the season respectably. However, you would have likely been underwhelmed at their output, especially in the first half of the season. Neither quite lived up to their ADP but still managed to finish 7th and 16th in total FPts, respectively. The rest of the Liverpool front line was not really up to much for various injury/adaption reasons, with consistent starts hard to come by. Jota (12.5 PPS) and Nunez (11.1) put up pretty good numbers in the limited starts they made and Gakpo (10.0), while not as explosive, started the majority of games since arriving in January. However, Diaz (9.1) even prior to his injury was extremely disappointing for those that drafted him in the first round. The only one to exceed expectations was one Bobby Firmino on his farewell tour putting up 13.3 PPS, although he benefited hugely from a 53 point haul in the 9-0 thrashing of Bournemouth.
You may be wondering where all of the Liverpool midfielders are in the table above... well, we have limited the table to 6+ starts and 7+ PPS to make it 'fantasy relevant'. So that unfortunately means only Jones makes the cut after a great end of season run in which he started all of the final 11 games. However, while he was performing amazingly in real life, his Fantrax points didn't really match up to that and were still very much linked to attacking returns: across that stretch, he managed 7.8 PPS but just 4.6 gPPS. It has been long established (since Coutinho's exit) that under Klopp the midfield is particularly workmanlike, allowing the forwards and full backs the license to attack, so they have generally not been fantasy relevant aside from Thiago or Henderson having a brief purple patch. There were, however, signs in the final 10 games of the season that could be about to change moving forward (more on that later).
Short of Trent, the defence was another disappointing situation. Konate at 6.8 PPS just missed the cut, but did at least nail down the preferred 2nd centre back spot over Matip, who was God awful for fantasy purposes even when he did start, what a fall from grace! Robertson and Van Dijk regressed so much they were barely recognisable; Robbo went from 13.5 PPS in 21/22 down to 8.8 PPS, while Van Dijk went from 11.1 PPS in 21/22 down to 7.9 PPS. If you had spent a 2nd/3rd round pick on either of them you would have been cursing your luck! Lack of clean sheets and an increase in goals conceded were clearly major factors, however Van Dijk has had an alarming reduction in aerials over the last few years (as have most defenders), which he has always relied on quite heavily to be a top asset. Robbo has definitely been stifled in attack, particularly later in the season where his attacking output was more limited to set pieces.
It was Alisson's turn to be the keeper drafted way too early last season, and boy did that look like a mistake at the beginning with Liverpool's defence in disarray. However, he was so busy between the sticks (7.4 gPPS) that he still managed a healthy return of 8.4 PPS. That was only just shy of the 9.0 PPS he put up in 21/22, where he relied more heavily on clean sheets and conceding far fewer goals considering his paltry 5.9 gPPS.
Overall Team Performance
Liverpool didn't just struggle to live up to their heroics in the 21/22 season, they really did fall off a cliff. A strong finish to the season which rescued a 5th placed finish definitely papered over the cracks of what was a dismal campaign. Up top, the loss of Mane to Bayern Munich was keenly felt at the beginning of the season, while long-term injuries to Jota & Diaz combined with teething issues for new signing Nunez were severely disruptive to the balance of the team. These struggles manifested in the lack of ability of the forwards to counter-press effectively, which we've come to expect from a Klopp team. This left the midfield 3 overrun, causing them to drop deeper and nullifying their strengths, particularly Thiago and Fabinho. It appeared as if the whole midfield had aged considerably over the course of the summer!
A deeper overrun midfield meant the defence was regularly exposed, resulting in a ton of goals conceded: 47 GA and just 14 CS (vs 26 GA and 21 CS in 21/22). While defensive and midfield assets struggled, Liverpool were still putting the goals away, even if it was a bit chaotic; 71 goals from 72.6 xG is still a decent return despite not living up to the heights of 21/22 (94 goals from 88.7 xG). However, it's worth noting that 22 of those goals came in 3 crazy games against Bournemouth (9-0), Man United (7-0) and Leeds (6-1), so the other 35 games were very poor by Liverpool's standards. The combination of this drop off in attacking output and effectively midtable defensive stats meant this team was just lacking the ability to challenge for top 4, let alone the title.
However, we end on the silver lining of the upturn in form late on in the season. Klopp switched formation, where in possession Trent would invert into midfield to create a 3-2-2-3 shape, which proved a devastating combination for him, leading to 7 assists in the last 10 games of the season after having only registered 4 all season before that. Klopp used January signing Gakpo up top in this period and his positional awareness, touch and pressing drastically improved the balance of the team in comparison to the creature of chaos, Nunez. The underlying defensive numbers did improve with the new system, even if there were still a lot of goals conceded, but it was clear that there were holes that could only be fixed by new signings in midfield. Thiago and Henderson are getting on now and youngsters Bajectic, Jones and Elliott were relied on too heavily at times, meaning the ability to keep possession and control the ball in midfield was severely lacking. So up step two young but extremely promising signings in Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton and Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig. They should slot in seamlessly into the LCM and RCM roles at the top of the box in the new system and hopefully rescue Liverpool's ailing midfield. At the time of writing it is expected that Liverpool will look to bring in another midfielder, especially if Henderson and Fabinho leave, and a left sided centre back.
Fantasy Forecast
Past is prelude, as they say. So, turning to the 23/24 season, we've got Liverpool player projections, 3 key players to keep an eye on, 3 players we're staying away from, 3 question marks surrounding the club at this moment, and an analysis of the Red's early-season fixtures.
23/24 Player Projections
Below, you'll find our season projections for Liverpool fantasy assets. Our projections are created using a number of contributing factors such as past performance, fixture difficulty ratings, anticipated minutes played, and more. PPS (Points Per Start) and ProjTotFPts (Projected Total Points) refer to Fantrax Default Scoring.
The big news here is Trent (3.05) pipping Salah (2.84) in projWAR; with defender replacement value quickly falling off a cliff in comparison to forwards, he gets a boost in WAR. Even if Salah may outscore him in total FPts, it's certainly something to think about if you have a mid 1st round pick! Salah's projGS down at 32 reflects the fact that he'll miss a few games when the African Cup of Nations comes around in January, but will be effectively nailed on otherwise.
There is a huge drop off in projWAR after these two, moving from roughly 3 down to 1 projWAR. These players can be categorised into two groups: one set of players that are more volatile in terms of projGS, but have a ton of upside, with the other group more nailed in the XI but offering lower projPPS. The forward line is probably the most difficult to read beyond Salah. The consensus tends to be that the majority of starts will go to Diaz (23 starts) at LW and Gakpo (21 starts) as the central striker, which is reflected in them having more starts than Nunez (17 starts) and Jota (19 starts). If I had to stick my neck out, I think as long as he stays healthy, Diaz will be the one to push nearer 30 starts out of that group and should be drafted highest. However, it really does feel like a particularly fluid situation and a lot will depend on how the new midfield profile affects the type of player that Klopp wants up top. Nunez at 12.3 PPS is a particularly exciting pick given his upside, yet is very risky given how he ended the season, where he was mostly limited to substitute appearances. Let's hope he's been paying attention during his English lessons over the summer! With Liverpool dropping into the Europa League this season, the 'first choice XI' should get more of a rest in midweek than in a Champions league campaign, especially in the group stages and early knockout rounds (if they qualify). So there should be plenty of matches to be shared around the forwards, which will hopefully keep them all in good fitness and form, but clearly there is limit to the no. starts that will be available in the Premier League. All of the Liverpool forwards are going at a much higher ADP than their projWAR ranking, so be wary of taking them too early given the risk! The defenders sit in the second group that are more nailed but after last season their projPPS has taken a serious knock, such were Liverpool's defensive frailties. I'm more bullish on Konate outperforming his projection (if he can stay fit), but Van Dijk and Robertson are worthy of their more cautious projPPS values.
The midfield is interesting with new signing Szoboszlai comfortably leading the way with a healthy 10.3 projPPS but just 23 projGS. If he manages to nail down his spot in the XI early on (especially with rumours of Henderson's departure to the Saudi Pro League), he could be a very good bet to push toward 30 starts, which would make him more than worthy of his current 32 ADP. Elliott may have a bit of a say on that, as his profile is well suited to the RCM role in the new system, but it's an interesting bet to take. The LCM role looks to be a straight fight between World Cup winner Mac Allister and England U21 Euros hero Jones, who was outstanding at the end of the season. While we would expect Mac Allister to come in to play the majority of the games, Jones could be an interesting sleeper pick to keep an eye on in the later rounds, as Klopp has been known to bed in new signings quite gradually at times.
3 Players to Watch
We've highlighted 3 players (and some honorable mentions) from Liverpool that we're keeping an eye on. Some players mentioned below may be sleepers. Some may be up-and-coming youngsters. Some may be vying for a spot in the XI. Whatever the case, we'll tell you why we're watching these 3 in EPL Draft Fantasy this year.
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Position: Defender
22/23 Points: 443 (3rd best midfielder)
22/23 Points Per Start: 12.2 (36 starts)
Recommended Draft Pick: 4-8 (12 Team League: Mid Round 1)
Analysis: While he had an underwhelming season overall, Trent really had an awesome end to the season drifting into midfield and causing havoc to opposition defences. He finished on 15.8 PPS (11.3 gPPS) in the last 10 games, which put him close to his amazing 21/22 output of 16.3 PPS that saw him finish 3rd in total FPts and top of the WAR rankings. This was in stark contrast to earlier in the season where he scored just 9.9 PPS (9.3 gPPS) in 24 starts. It really feels like there are a lot parallels to two seasons ago when, after winning the title in 19/20, a spate of injuries the following season saw Liverpool struggle and Trent in particular negatively affected. But Liverpool turned it around to finish 3rd, with Trent ending the season as the form player in Fantrax. Fast forward to drafts in 21/22 and he was being taken around the turn in picks 10-14, with managers wary of the previous season but having forgotten how well he finished the season. I would recommend not allowing him to drift any further than pick 6 or 7; you will more than likely regret it! There could be some worry re: the introduction of the more attacking profile of Szoboszlai in midfield, and his set piece ability means there is some risk of some sharing of right footed sets, but Trent has so much quality and license to attack in the new role that there should be more than enough points to go around.
Dominik Szoboszlai
Position: Midfielder
22/23 Points: N/A
22/23 Points Per Start: N/A
Recommended Draft Pick: 23-32 (12 Team League: Late Round 2 to Mid Round 3)
Analysis: Since Coutinho's exit, the Liverpool midfield has not really been a beacon of fantasy points under Klopp. However, the new formation and signing of Szoboszlai could be about to change all of that. His numbers in the Bundesliga are very promising indeed (14.5 PP90, 10.5 gPP90), and yes I know we've heard all of this before with players such as Timo Werner and Kai Havertz coming over and underwhelming, but the parallels between RB Leipzig and Liverpool's aggressive pressing style of football gives much greater confidence on his adaption. Last season Szoboszlai typically operated on the right wing in 4-2-2-2 formation, a role which saw him move between the half spaces and the wing, which correlates very nicely to the RCM role employed by Klopp in the new 3-2-2-3 formation. However, in 21/22 he operated more from the left and was used across every central/wide attacking midfield position going, even up top as a false 9. This really underlines his versatility, which should stand him in great stead under a manager like Klopp.
The above radar is courtesy of the McLach App, which pulls all the pertinent data from fbref to make a player profile comparing him to other attacking midfielders/wingers in the big 5 European Leagues. It shows a player who was a creative force for Leipzig last season, with passing, assists, xA and shot creation standing out. While he was not as outstanding in shots and goals, it is still serviceable for his position and it's nice to see healthy numbers for successful dribbles, interceptions and tackles, which back up those tasty ghost point numbers. It's worth noting that playing from the left in 21/22, Szoboszlai's goals, xG and shot %s were significantly better than last season, and he still had outstanding creative numbers. So while it's expected that he takes the RCM role, if he is used in the LCM role he should have more opportunities to cut in on his right foot and get shots off, whereas the RCM role could see him as more of a creative force as he drifts wide to allow Salah to come inside. One to keep an eye on in pre-season as this could potentially make him a more potent attacking asset; he has a wicked shot on him!
To see how Szoboszlai could fit in at Liverpool it's worth having a quick look at how Henderson's numbers improved at the end of last season. While not his natural position, Henderson filled the RCM role and enjoyed greater attacking license, often pulling out wide as Trent and Salah came inside, allowing him to get more deliveries into the box. Counting only games started in that period, the standout stats were key passes per 90 improving from 0.8 to 2.3 and ACNC per 90 improving from 0.3 to 1.3, resulting in PP90 improving from 5.2 to 10.9! Now adapting Szoboszlai's 14.5 PP90 from the Bundesliga to the Premier League doesn't seem too much of a stretch. He is naturally more of an attacking no.10 than Henderson which fits nicely to the RCM role. While he will likely lose righty set pieces to Trent, which will dent his fantasy production, I would still expect him to at least achieve similar numbers to those managed by Henderson in the RCM role, if not better, which would make him a very exciting prospect indeed! The last thing in his favour is the potential departure of Henderson to the Saudi Pro League which could see him gain more starts than expected this coming season.
Mohamed Salah
Position: Forward
22/23 Points: 502.5 (3rd best forward)
22/23 Points Per Start: 13.5 (37 starts)
Recommended Draft Pick: 2-6 (12 Team League: Early Round 1)
Analysis: While it wasn't the best of seasons for Salah last time out, the fact he managed to finish 7th in total points says a lot about his enduring quality despite things falling apart around him. Some may cite age as a factor in his regression with him just turning 31, which is a valid concern. However, there is a lot of cause for optimism that this isn't the case given how the new formation seemed to get the best out of him. Similarly to Trent, Salah particularly benefited in terms of production after the switch. While a couple of penalties helped to boost the total, pretty much every metric drastically improved. Some pertinent ones are included in the table below, the headline being an extra 4.2 PPS and 1.3 gPPS.
Earlier in the season Salah was glued to the touchline too often and was being asked to do way too much defensive work for the team. However, the switch in formation meant Henderson pulled wide more allowing Salah to attack the box from the half spaces cutting in on his left foot as we have seen him do to such great effect over the years. You can see that in his xG shooting up, as he was simply getting in the right positions to shoot more often which lead to the extra goals and interestingly didn't stifle the creative side of his game with xA and shot creating actions improving slightly as well.
One of the downsides for Salah this season is his participation in the African Cup of Nations, and with Egypt typically going deep in the competition it could put him out of action for 4 to 5 GWs between GW21 and 25. However, as can be seen in his projections and from the evidence of last season, Salah will start pretty much every game he is available for. Liverpool simply don't have anyone remotely as good as him in that position. Going with Salah is one of the safest bets you can make in the first round of the draft. Even if he doesn't live up to expectations he will still finish in the top 10 for FPts, he is just so reliable.
Honourable Mention(s):
Another player who benefited from the formation switch was Konate. Before the switch he had some injury issues which limited him to just 9 starts between GW1-28, and in that time he scored a lowly 5.7 PPS (6.0 gPPS). However, after the switch he was much busier through covering for Trent while he marauded into midfield. The typical defensive categories all improved with TkW/90 going up from 1.0 to 2.1, AER/90 from 2.0 to 3.5 and Int/90 from 1.3 to 1.6. All of that added up to 8.2 PPS (9.2 gPPS) in the new formation, which is pretty promising given the dearth of talent in defender pool that we experienced last season. If Liverpool manage to improve their defensive numbers and he can stay fit, he could be a very nice option as a late round sleeper in the draft.
I'd also like to highlight a player who disappointed many drafters last season in Diaz. While he clearly struggled for consistency before a long term injury last season, it's easy to forget just how good he was after signing for Liverpool in January the season before. Nailed on the LW with Mane moving to centre forward, Diaz racked up 13.5 PPS in 11 starts and had a huge impact on the run to the champions league final. There was a very good reason why he was being taken in the first round of drafts last season and that shouldn't be forgotten. In a Liverpool team back on form he could be absolutely deadly! While he has more competition now, he is quite clearly the standout for me in the LW position and he has the highest ceiling of starts given how good he is IRL and how well his profile suits what Klopp wants from that position. His current ADP of 27 puts him at the start of the 3rd round and given he has the upside of a Round 1 pick if everything works well for him, he could be well worth taking a chance on there.
3 Players to Avoid
It's not all sunshine and rainbows at Anfield. At least, not as far as Draft Fantasy Football is concerned. Below, we will also highlight 3 fantasy assets that we're not so thrilled about. These are the 3 Liverpool players you might want to avoid come draft day.
Andrew Robertson
Position: Defender
22/23 Points: 267.25 (10th best defender)
22/23 Points Per Start: 8.8 (29 starts)
Recommended Draft Pick: 44-66 - (12 Team League: Round 4-6)
Analysis: Boy did Robertson have a depressing season for fantasy purposes last year. He managed just 8.8 PPS after previously scoring a record high 13.5 PPS in 21/22. Now it wasn't all bad; Robertson managed 10 starts with scores in doubles figures, but he was very hit and miss. Things get worse when you examine the difference in Robertson's performance after the aforementioned formation switch in GW29. Prior to this he managed a respectable 9.7 PPS (8.0 gPPS) in 21 starts, whereas afterward it dropped to 6.8 PPS (6.3 gPPS) from 9 starts. Simply put, Robertson was no longer swashbuckling up the wings when Liverpool were in possession, but tucking in as a left sided centre back while Trent moved into midfield. Clearly this stifles his fantasy points production. As you can see from the chart above he clearly stands out in assists, key passes and ACNC's for defenders, so any reduction to these areas will significantly reduce his fantasy value. The new signings Liverpool have made give us confidence that Klopp will stick with the new system for the coming season, so beware that Robertson will likely not be the player we once new and he may even be usurped in that role too with rumours of Liverpool looking at a LCB signing.
Alexis Mac Allister
Position: Midfielder
22/23 Points: 352.5 (16th best midfielder)
22/23 Points Per Start: 11.2 (31 starts)
Recommended Draft Pick: 49-65 (12 Team League: Round 5 to 6)
Analysis: 22/23 really was a breakout season for Mac Allister, nailing down a spot in central midfield at Brighton, going on to win a World Cup with Argentina then came back and took on the no.10 role under De Zerbi which unleashed his attacking potential. While Liverpool fans can rightly be excited by the prospect of such a talent revamping the midfield, unfortunately it's likely not going to be so good for his fantasy prospects. The first thing Mac Allister will lose when he comes to Liverpool is set pieces. Last season he took penalties and direct free kicks, relying on set pieces for 28% of his fantasy points! I can't imagine him wrestling penalties off Salah or free kicks off Trent any time soon so that is a huge chunk of fantasy points to write off, especially as Mac scored no fewer than 6 penalties last season. Not just content with knocking a quarter of his points off, it's likely that the LCM role he takes up will be less attacking than the no.10 position which he enjoyed at the end of last season. From February onward, when Mac Allister was mostly deployed as a no.10, he scored 12.9 PPS (9.1 gPPS) in 15 starts whereas before that he was in a deeper role scoring 9.9 PPS (7.7 gPPS) in 16 starts. While I think the LCM role at Liverpool is a bit more advanced than the deeper playmaking role, he's still not going to have the same license to burst into the box like he did at Brighton so effectively. That being said I think the projection of 8.6 PPS seems fair; while you factor in the loss of set pieces, he will also have better finishers around him who should take more of the chances he creates for them (after only registering 2 assists from 4.3 xA last season). I would expect a bit of a bump on Jones's 7.8 PPS and likely a better ghost point floor, so drafting him in the 2nd/3rd round (as you may have done if he stayed at Brighton) is now out of the picture, but by the end of Round 5/early Round 6 he could start to offer value.
Virgil Van Dijk
Position: Defender
22/23 Points: 253.75 (13th best defender)
22/23 Points Per Start: 7.9 (32 starts)
Recommended Draft Pick: 50-60 (12 Team League: Round 5)
Analysis: The fact that Van Dijk's radar above looks pretty good is more a reflection of how bad defenders were in Fantrax than how good he was last season. Van Dijk had a bit of a season to forget with plenty of mistakes leading to goals/chances for the opposition and a short spell on the sidelines with an injury to boot. While not all of that can be blamed on him, with the balance further up the pitch leaving the defence exposed too often, he really did not look himself at all and that was reflected in his fantasy points. As discussed in my Defender Underperformance article last season, tactically there has been a move toward more possession-dominant teams in recent years which stifles the number of aerial battles and has unfortunately seen centre backs particularly lose a big source of their points. For example, in the first 5 season that Van Dijk played in the Premier League he averaged 5.0 AER/90, whereas the last 2 seasons he averaged 3.3. That's nearly 2 whole points every time he plays! Its a similar story for Int/90 down from 1.9 to 0.9 and TkW/90 down from 0.9 to 0.4. Translating that into ghost points, he's gone from 11.0 gPP90 to 7.3 gPP90, Van Dijk just isn't the juggernaut he used to be for Fantrax purposes. While he still is a threat from set pieces (he managed 3 goals last season), and I expect Liverpool to shore up a bit defensively this season, I just don't expect it to be enough to make him value before the 5th round in the draft.
Honourable Mention(s):
All that's left for me to mention is one of the Liverpool forwards not named Salah and unfortunately I'm going to pick on Jota (although it could genuinely be any of them). There are only so many minutes to go around and Jota got the least starts (when in the squad) last season at 55%. He has amazing upside when fit, but he has been pretty injury prone the last couple of seasons, and has so much competition that it would be a big risk to take him before the 4th or maybe even 5th round unless you're stacking him with another Liverpool forward.
3 Question Marks
Not everything is crystal clear and predictable at Liverpool. These are 3 questions surrounding the Reds that we’re grappling with this preseason. We’ll try to note whether or not (and how much) these questions are affecting our perceptions of Liverpool's fantasy assets.
FWD Congestion - It was touched upon above, but the forward situation at Liverpool is a bit of a minefield. While it's thought that Diaz and Gakpo will partner Salah up top, a case could be made for both Jota and Nunez to take those spots depending on how things shape up with the new-look midfield. Going into the draft it really depends on your appetite for risk as to whether you should pick them. All of the forwards appear to be going much higher than what 50% starts would project them to deliver, so they are all worthy of an avoid at their current ADP. However, if you have a hunch that one of them is going to break through, especially after watching pre-season, the huge upside could be worth the risk!
Injury/Transfer Concerns - It was a sorry story last year in terms of injuries during pre-season. However, there are currently no injury concerns in the squad and there is optimism that a full pre-season without any international commitments will mean the players start with a much stronger foundation this time around. There is however, a lot of speculation over the departures of Henderson and Fabinho to the Saudi Pro League. While Henderson's role in the team may be on a downward trajectory with the signing of Szoboszlai, the influence of big characters like him in the dressing room cannot be understated (especially with Milner already departing). At the time of writing it appears more certain that Fabinho will leave and he is probably the biggest concern as he is the only natural no.6 at Liverpool. His departure should definitely mean Liverpool going back into the transfer market, which would shake things up even more. Whoever is signed to replace him, such an overhaul and loss of leadership in the midfield could mean another slow start for the Liverpool this season, something to be wary of come draft day - if Liverpool have a slow start their assets could become nice buy-low candidates after a few games.
Lack of Clean Sheets - The drop off in Liverpool's defensive performance was there for all to see last season. It's worth noting that while it helped a bit, even the switch to the 3-2-2-3 system at the end of the season wasn't a silver bullet to suddenly shore up the defence completely. While I expect the defence to improve with the new look midfield and a proper pre-season, if it doesn't, everyone not named Trent may be particularly volatile without a regular clean sheet bonus, although it may not hinder Alisson too much if he is kept busy.
Early-Season Fixture Difficulty
The way that teams come out the gate has big implications in EPL Draft. A red hot start creates red hot trade targets. A dismal start means plummeting player values and losses for your fantasy team. Check out our thoughts on Liverpool's early-season fixtures and our analysis of the fantasy implications they will have.
Not a whole lot of green in the FDT for the first 5 games, which is reflected in Liverpool ranking 6th for keepers, 7th for defenders, 11th for midfielders and quite shockingly 17th for forwards! It's probably not too surprising given they have 3 away fixtures, with Chelsea in GW1 and Newcastle in GW3 looking particularly tough, and even a tricky tie at home to Villa in GW4. A home match against Bournemouth in GW2 does whet the whistle however, with memories of the 9-0 thrashing in the same fixture at the beginning of last season still lingering. Molineux hasn't been the easiest of hunting grounds in recent years, but you've still got to favour that fixture with Wolves seemingly in a fire sale this summer. Overall not the best fixtures, but you draft Liverpool assets as your elite players in the early rounds so realistically you should be trotting out everyone not named Fabinho in all of these fixtures anyway.
23/24 Liverpool Predicted Lineup
The following lineup represents our prediction for the most likely line-up for the long-term for Liverpool in the upcoming season. We can't account for injuries or new transfers, but this should provide a reasonable guide for who will be the preferred starters for the majority of Premier League matches this season.
Liverpool finally have enough healthy attackers to match the rotation nightmares of City for fantasy managers. Nunez while prolific, is still somewhat raw tactically, while Gakpo was able to channel his inner Bobby by the end of last season to add an incredible amount of value to the attacking play. Jota is quickly developing a reputation as a very deadly and prolific scorer, so it would not be a surprise to see him feature a fair amount on the left and through the middle. We have gone with the 4-3-3 formation that will morph into a 3-box-3, but there is still a glaring need for a proper number 6 here to fill the void left by Fabinho. In the meantime, Mac Allister and Jones will deputise.
More Team Previews: Arsenal | Aston Villa | Bournemouth | Brentford | Brighton | Burnley | Chelsea | Crystal Palace | Everton | Fulham | Luton | Liverpool | Man City | Man United | Newcastle | Nottingham Forest | Sheffield United | Tottenham | West Ham | Wolves
Check out our 23/24 Draft Kit for all the pre-season information you could ever need. We've got a Live Draft Aide, Draft Rankings, Team Previews, Cheat Sheets, Strategy Articles, Draft 101, plus so much more. Dominate your draft!
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