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Defending champions Liverpool started off the season in blistering fashion with five successive wins but their form has faltered recently with back-to-back losses.

The Reds spent big in the summer and brought in a raft of new players – including British record signing Alexander Isak.

The question now is do Fantasy Premier League managers stick with the Liverpool players in their team and hope they are through the bad patch? Or is it time to bring others in?

Holly Shand: We have reached a crossroads with Liverpool assets as their fixtures turn for the worse, with Manchester United, Brentford, Aston Villa and Manchester City in the next four gameweeks.

Ryan Gravenberch has been their star performer in the last four gameweeks, with three goal involvements in this spell. The competition for spaces in their forward line means that consistent minutes are not guaranteed for Cody Gakpo, Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak, who is still waiting for his first Premier League goal in a Liverpool shirt.

Mohamed Salah provides the biggest conundrum: he has four goal involvements in seven appearances, with three of those returns coming late in injury time. He’s had two consecutive blanks and no double digit hauls, whereas last season he was regularly delivering big points. This lack of form means it’s unlikely managers will choose to captain him over Erling Haaland in any of the next four gameweeks, and so he could struggle to justify his £14.4m price tag.

Holly Shand: Their defence has been far from convincing, with nine goals conceded and just two clean sheets.

The long-term injury for keeper Alisson further impacts their clean-sheet potential going forward, and so even Virgil Van Dijk looks unlikely to justify his price tag compared to Arsenal defenders in this spell.

We’ve also seen a lot of rotation in Liverpool’s full-back spots in recent weeks, with Van Dijk remaining the safest route into their backline.

Statman Dave: “I am sick of the sight of them. They are done. I don’t think they will ever come back in my team this season. Alexander Isak is out. He has a single assist and he is out. Same with Mohamed Salah.

Naomi Osaka has pulled out of the Japan Open before Friday’s quarter-final because of a leg injury sustained in the second round.

The former world number one held back tears and needed painkillers to come through a three-set last-16 win over defending champion Suzan Lamens on Wednesday.

Top seed Osaka, who completed the match with strapping on her left thigh, was due to face Jaqueline Cristian in the last eight but the Romanian will instead progress to the semi-finals.

The Japan Open made the announcement on X, saying: “We regret to announce that Naomi Osaka has not recovered from a left leg injury sustained during the second round of this tournament and has withdrawn from the quarter-finals scheduled for today.”

It is not yet known whether Osaka will play in the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo later this month.

The four-time Grand Slam champion is the latest high-profile player to suffer late-season injury issues.

In September, Iga Swiatek complained the season is “too long and too intense” following a string of injuries among players at the China Open.

British number one Emma Raducanu called time on her season on Thursday after retiring from her two previous matches with illness.

Australia’s Daria Kasatkina, Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina and Spain’s Paula Badosa also ended their seasons early in recent weeks.

Naomi Osaka has pulled out of the Japan Open before Friday’s quarter-final because of a leg injury sustained in the second round.

The former world number one held back tears and needed painkillers to come through a three-set last-16 win over defending champion Suzan Lamens on Wednesday.

Top seed Osaka, who completed the match with strapping on her left thigh, was due to face Jaqueline Cristian in the last eight but the Romanian will instead progress to the semi-finals.

The Japan Open made the announcement on X, saying: “We regret to announce that Naomi Osaka has not recovered from a left leg injury sustained during the second round of this tournament and has withdrawn from the quarter-finals scheduled for today.”

It is not yet known whether Osaka will play in the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo later this month.

The four-time Grand Slam champion is the latest high-profile player to suffer late-season injury issues.

In September, Iga Swiatek complained the season is “too long and too intense” following a string of injuries among players at the China Open.

British number one Emma Raducanu called time on her season on Thursday after retiring from her two previous matches with illness.

Australia’s Daria Kasatkina, Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina and Spain’s Paula Badosa also ended their seasons early in recent weeks.

Naomi Osaka has pulled out of the Japan Open before Friday’s quarter-final because of a leg injury sustained in the second round.

The former world number one held back tears and needed painkillers to come through a three-set last-16 win over defending champion Suzan Lamens on Wednesday.

Top seed Osaka, who completed the match with strapping on her left thigh, was due to face Jaqueline Cristian in the last eight but the Romanian will instead progress to the semi-finals.

The Japan Open made the announcement on X, saying: “We regret to announce that Naomi Osaka has not recovered from a left leg injury sustained during the second round of this tournament and has withdrawn from the quarter-finals scheduled for today.”

It is not yet known whether Osaka will play in the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo later this month.

The four-time Grand Slam champion is the latest high-profile player to suffer late-season injury or health issues.

In September, Iga Swiatek complained the season is “too long and too intense” following a string of injuries among players at the China Open.

British number one Emma Raducanu called time on her season on Thursday after retiring from her two previous matches with illness.

Australia’s Daria Kasatkina, Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina and Spain’s Paula Badosa also ended their seasons early in recent weeks, citing either injury or a pressing need to take a break from the tour.

It felt a long way from the Premier League.

Nick Woltemade was on loan at Elversberg when the forward lined up against Rot Weiss-Essen in the third tier of German football in 2023.

He may have been an unmissable 6ft 6in (1.98m), but he was not a household name just yet.

However, team-mate Luca Durholtz knew what Newcastle United’s future record signing could do.

“One of Rot Weiss-Essen’s staff members said to me ‘that tall camel isn’t a player, is he?’

“I said, ‘just wait and see how he plays, my friend’.

“We won and Nick scored.”

Woltemade has become used to proving people wrong.

It was just last month that Bayern Munich supervisory board member Karl-Heinz Rummenigge claimed Newcastle were “idiots” for paying £69m to sign him from Stuttgart.

But Woltemade is understood to have merely shrugged off the remark.

Rather than commenting directly, he has instead let his performances do the talking.

And the German, who was subject of multiple failed bids from Bayern last summer, has made a strong start to his career on Tyneside, scoring four goals in his first five starts.

The towering Woltemade looks like a typical battering ram.

The forward has scored half of his goals for Newcastle with his head and he even opened his account for Germany after getting on the end of a corner against Northern Ireland on Monday.

But appearances can be deceptive.

Woltemade’s team-mates at Newcastle have quickly realised they can give the frontman the ball and he can keep hold of it under pressure, wriggle away from his marker or play a pass that brings others into the game.

According to football stats database FBref, he has received 108 passes for Newcastle – which illustrates the trust of those around him, as well as his ability to hold on to possession.

The technical forward also boasts one of the top five pass completion percentages (82.6%) at the club.

As well as being a focal point Woltemade can drop deep and link play, feeding rapid wingers such as Anthony Gordon and Anthony Elanga, and the majority (71) of his 132 touches have been in the middle third of the pitch rather than the final third.

Former team-mate Durholtz said “this striker profile doesn’t really exist” elsewhere while friend Jorik Wulff, similarly, added “most teams do not have a player type like him” after he rose through the ranks with Woltemade at Werder Bremen.

“He doesn’t move like a striker who’s two metres tall,” Wulff said. “He wants the ball at his feet and tries to dribble and go past defenders, so he’s not the typical player you expect when you see him.

Those qualities certainly caught the eye of Eddie Howe.

The Newcastle head coach first watched Woltemade play for Stuttgart in the Bundesliga last season, before monitoring the German’s progress as he won the Golden Boot at the European Under-21 Championship.

After seeing targets Joao Pedro, Hugo Ekitike and Benjamin Sesko go elsewhere, Newcastle made their move for Woltemade in August – just a few days before striker Alexander Isak left the club to join Liverpool.

Each twist of his proposed switch to Bayern Munich played out in public but this transfer quietly progressed.

Woltemade’s camp did not necessarily have an extensive knowledge of Newcastle at the time, but they got a good feeling from the first contact and the personable nature of the approach.

They could tell Newcastle had a clear idea of how to use Woltemade and were even pleasantly surprised how the coaching staff were open to evolving their style of play to get the best out of him.

He had only been at Stuttgart a year, and had family nearby, but felt he had to seize the moment to go to the next level.

There is context here.

Woltemade became the youngest player to ever represent Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga, at the age of just 17, but his career did not exactly take off at that point, leading to a loan to Elversberg under manager Horst Steffen two and a half years later.

“Nick has stayed true to himself, tried to work on himself and improved,” Steffen said. “He regularly took advantage of his opportunities when he got playing time, especially in Stuttgart. This made it clear how good he is.

Such belief has served Woltemade well after he was thrown straight in at Newcastle.

Newcastle had intended to ease the new arrival in at first, and work on his fitness in between games to prepare him for the physicality of the English game.

But forward Yoane Wissa’s knee injury disrupted those plans and Woltemade has ended up starting five of the seven matches he has played for the club.

He hit the ground running, but it has still been an adjustment.

Though the Bundesliga is an intense league in its own right, the Premier League is particularly quick and Woltemade has also come up against strong defenders.

He has already scored more headers for Newcastle than he did at Stuttgart in the whole of last season, but the tall forward has won just 27.8% of his aerial duels in the top flight.

Just as Newcastle are adapting to Woltemade’s strengths, the new arrival is also adjusting to a demanding role – having come off with cramp on his goalscoring debut against Wolves.

There has been a greater emphasis on getting into the box and being in the right place at the right time, as he was when he diverted Sandro Tonali’s shot into the net with a clever flick against Union Saint-Gilloise in the Champions League earlier this month.

But his willingness to learn and help the team has impressed staff, along with his mentality.

Howe had a gut feeling that Woltemade could handle the pressure of playing in the number nine position for Newcastle when he first spoke to him, and his head did not drop following two misses against Nottingham Forest earlier this month.

He instead grabbed the ball, after his side were awarded a penalty, and powered home a convincing spot-kick in front of the Gallowgate End.

“We expected a lot from him and we signed him because we believe in him,” Howe said. “We believe that he can make the transition from another league, but it’s still so difficult to do with no training and after being thrust straight in.

“He hardly knew his team-mates’ names and he’s playing. Then you’re judged instantly on whether you’re going to be a success or failure. That’s tough.