Arne Slot’s record start at Liverpool looked to have hit a snag with a key injury, but the stats disagree.
Top of the Premier League and with nine wins from ten, the Reds were flying, up until they received a nasty shock against Crystal Palace.
A goal up and clinging on against a resurgent Palace side, everything suddenly went wrong when goalkeeper Alisson Becker went down clutching his hamstring in the 79th minute.
It was clear all was not well, and it looks like Alisson could be out for as long as a month, but things quickly turned around.
Eberechi Eze was sent into the Reds box one-on-one, and the subbed-on Vitezslav Jaros stepped up to make a key stop on a tricky moving shot to win the match.
And there’s better news too – Liverpool’s actual back-up, Caoimhin Kelleher, is even better.
The Irishman, who is now his country’s no.1, has deputised regularly for Alisson over the years and has rarely put a foot wrong.
With 49 appearances to his name, including two already this season, the 25-year-old has proved to be one of the most reliable back-ups in the game and has been rewarded with a starring role in Liverpool’s League Cup and FA Cup victories.
In the Premier League alone he has 16 appearances, and a win rate of 68.8 per cent, up from Allison’s 66.7 per cent.
Liverpool concede more goals with Kelleher, 1.1 per game compared to 0.9 with Alisson, but there’s more to that when you dig a little deeper into the stats.
Alisson records more clean sheets, in 43 per cent of his matches to Kelleher’s 31 per cent, but the Irishman is both busier and more effective.
The younger shot-stopper faces 4.4 shots per match to Alisson’s 3.2, and as a result makes 3.3 saves per match compared to the Brazilian’s 2.4.
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He also has a higher save percentage (74.3 per cent vs 73.7 per cent) while the expected goals stats back him up saying he prevents 0.23 more goals than he should per game, compared to Allison’s 0.11.
Perhaps more interesting than all of those stats is that he also makes more passes per match (35.6 vs 31.3), a remarkable achievement considering Alisson’s reputation as one of the all-time greats with his feet.
All of this comes amid a backdrop of upheaval in Liverpool’s net, and with the club’s player analysis department known to rely heavily on stats, this run could well see Kelleher boost his chances of being their next no.1.
The club have already signed Giorgi Mamardashvili for the 2025/26 season, meaning that surely one of Alisson or Kelleher will be departing.
Alisson has a contract until 2027, and Kelleher seems to have had enough of sitting on the bench, meaning that the Reds decision could well be made over the next few weeks.
