Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold have both been named in Sky Sports‘ ‘Premier League XI so far’, but Roberto Firmino has missed out despite his excellent August performances.
The team was put together through the so-called ‘Power Rankings’, which allots points to players based on 35 different statistics.
Liverpool have only managed one clean sheet from their opening four matches, but that angle slightly obscures some impressive individual displays.
Van Dijk has looked as imperious as ever in our early games, while Alexander-Arnold has already contributed three assists as he chases down last season’s record tally.
However, Reds fans might be surprised to learn that Roberto Firmino was not included.
The Brazilian has carried out his truly unique role to near-perfection in the early part of the campaign, scoring twice and setting-up a further two in our first four games.
Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero and Teemu Pukki, who sit atop the goalscoring charts, are all in there ahead of him.
Alongside Mohamed Salah, Firmino was listed among the players who ‘just missed out’.
It seems Firmino’s underlying numbers were not enough to nudge him ahead of those who have demonstrated greater firepower.
Still, he’s arguably the favourite to land the club’s Player of the Month award, for which you can vote here.