Liverpool will have at least two players in the conversation for the Premier League Player of the Year award: Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk. Midfielder Ryan Gravenberch should probably be in there too.
But Reds legend Kenny Dalglish has named five fringe stars who deserve to get credit for their roles in the victory, too. Arne Slot has tended to pick the same 14 or 15 players this season, with others having much more limited roles than they might have wanted.
While Salah, Van Dijk and Gravenberch have all started every league game, others have played much less than most expected. Federico Chiesa, for instance, has only made four substitute appearances in the Premier League.
“Endo was coming on at the end of some games and just closing the door,” he told Anfield Index. “Everybody who was in the squad, I think they earned the place to be there.
“The young players like Curtis (Jones) — he went in against Everton, played right-back and did very well. Harvey Elliott did really well when he was given the opportunities to play.
“(Conor) Bradley did really well at right-back when he had to fill in. I think the youngsters played a part in it as well.
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“I think everybody’s obviously played a part — (Caoimhin) Kelleher coming in, stepping in when he had to, and did fantastic. I think he’s a really good goalkeeper, so everybody made a contribution.”
Elliott is one of a number of players who might have a decision to make on his future at some point soon, given he has played so little. Yet to start a Premier League game under Slot, his chances to impress have been very limited.
“I hope that I can push on [next season],” Elliott told the Liverpool ECHO this week. “This is my team, I am committed to them and it’s just a situation that is always going to have a lot of talk, I just need to think about what is best for my future, my career and as much as I want it to be here.
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“You never know what is going to happen around the corner. If I had it my way, that would be here, I would play each and every game here and stay here for the rest of my career.
“But it all depends on managers and the people above. As I said, you don’t know what could happen but as far as I am aware I am here, here to stay and this is the club I want to be at.
“Hopefully I am still here to be honest. It is the best place to be, the best club to be at and especially having the fans around us at the moment, I don’t think there is a better place to be playing.”
Liverpool.com says: It will be interesting to see what moves Slot makes in the summer. Keeping the likes of Elliott and Chiesa, who have barely played, should be far from out of the question. Will they get more chances in the Dutchman’s second season, though, or is this just how he likes to manage?
