No Isak, No Salah, Now What?
Alexander Isak has underwhelmed while Mohamed Salah has fallen out of favour. But how will Liverpool create chances without them?
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Alexander Isak’s goal at Tottenham was a perfect metaphor for Liverpool in 2025/26, with positive and negative entwined to a ridiculous level. He gave the Reds the lead, just as he had at West Ham, only to suffer a long-term injury in the process.
To rub further salt in his surgery scars, he had combined with Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz to fashion the goal. The latter collected his first Premier League assist, which was at least another glimmer of positivity in the gloom.
It was the first time the summer signing trio had all been involved in a sequence leading to a goal at any point, never mind making the final three contributions. The second instance will not occur for quite some time now.
With attacking relationships needing to be established, losing Isak for a few months is not ideal. There remains the question of whether Mohamed Salah can be successfully reintegrated into the starting XI too. He’ll have to be to some extent after Egypt’s Cup of Nations campaign is over, but his form was such that he was deservedly benched.
As much as Isak’s absence is a negative, at least he hadn’t contributed too much to this point so won’t be missed in that sense. Imagine if Manchester City lost Erling Haaland; this injury is not as crucial as that one would be to the respective teams.
As we approach the end of Side A of Arne Slot’s difficult second album, it’s worth reflecting on which attacking combinations have been working in the Premier League. Which duo has created the most chances or generated the most expected goals? It’s a different answer to each part of that, so you’d better read on.
Chances Created
Liverpool have had 259 shots so far this season, with 204 of them directly fashioned by one of 108 different combinations of players creating and taking the chance.
Two of the most common pairings occurred last season too. Cody Gakpo has set up seven opportunities for Salah, with the Egyptian producing the same total for Dominik Szoboszlai.
The combination of the latter topped this chart in 2024/25. After 17 match weeks this season, we have a new leading pair.
