Stats show Jordan Henderson could be Liverpool’s most important player & will be sorely missed

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Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson will not play again this season after sustaining a knee injury in Thursday’s 1-1 Europa League draw with Borussia Dortmund.

The England midfielder faces a layoff of between six to eight weeks with lateral collateral ligament damage, making him a major doubt for Euro 2016 this summer.

SEE MORE: Henderson ruled out for the season after scan

Henderson has arguably not reached the standards that he did last campaign in a season which has been hampered by a heel injury which cost him three months of action.

But these stats from WhoScored show just how crucial the 25-year-old is to our Premier League fortunes. We win twice as many games with him than we do without him.

As this graphic shows, Henderson’s presence in the team has a massive impact on our results this season, and we would be in a pretty awful position had he not played at all.

We average 1.13 points per game without Henderson – a record which would have us 16th in the Premier League table if it was spread across the 30 games we have contested.

When Henderson does play, we average 1.87 points per game. That is a stark difference, and better than every team in the division other than Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City.

Simply put, we are much more productive when Henderson plays. We score more goals, concede fewer and win a lot more points. That is a significant impact from the skipper.

The likes of Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino might hog the bulk of the headlines, but these stats prove that Henderson’s importance to Liverpool cannot be disputed.

That should put to bed any suggestions that he could be sold, and the rest of our midfielders need to step up until the end of the season to ensure that his absence is not too badly felt.

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