The Vital Connection Was Made. Some Will Be Broken.

Thirteen combinations created 10+ chances for Liverpool in the 2024/25 Premier League. Who was top? Which pairings won't be there next season?

Change is exciting. It’s why football transfers drive so much interest.

Change is also risky. Coincidence or not, Liverpool’s two Premier League titles followed summers in which they kept the gossip peddlers very quiet. The average starting XI for Arne Slot this season had been with the Reds for 4.6 years per player, at least 1.2 more than for any other club in the top flight.

Exiting or risky, change is afoot at Anfield ahead of 2025/26. Trent Alexander-Arnold has already moved to Madrid, with Andy Robertson rumoured to be heading for the other side of town. The full-backs rank fifth and 26th respectively for expected assists generated in Europe’s big five leagues since 2017/18. Their creative absence will be felt.

Florian Wirtz looks set to cover some of the shortfall, having been one of the continent’s top players for expected goal assists over the last few seasons. A summer free of international tournaments (for club or country) will help his integration, but it may take time for his wavelength to be fully attuned to that of his new teammates.

The line-up changes that occur next season will mean many of Liverpool’s top combinations for creating chances in their title-winning campaign are unlikely to feature as often, if at all. It’s time to review them.

The data which follows was compiled via Understat. A Driblab article from March noted Raphinha had created 18 chances for Robert Lewandowski to lead the big five leagues at that point; the Reds had no one-way combinations that strong, even at the conclusion of the campaign.

What they might have had was a stronger link-up in both directions. Here are Liverpool’s 13 pairings which generated double-digit chances in the 2024/25 Premier League.

Joint-10th, 10 chances

Darwin Núñez and Mohamed Salah, 2.69 expected goals, three goals

Harvey Elliott and Mohamed Salah, 0.71 xG, no goals

Luis Díaz and Alexis Mac Allister, 0.45 xG, no goals

Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dominik Szoboszlai, 0.41 xG, no goals

The latter two duos produced little of note, with neither generating more than a single shot on target. Luis Díaz and Alexis Mac Allister - the likeliest combination in this group to feature next season - did at least fashion two chances worth 0.10 expected goals, whereas Alexander-Arnold and Dominik Szoboszlai failed to deliver anything above 0.07 xG.

The other two combinations are rather more interesting, simply because they didn’t get much in the way of shared playing time.