This month, we’re looking at the forgotten men in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), who we think have the potential to make an impact in 2024.

These are the players who have dropped off the FPL radar due to spells on the sidelines, be it through injury or suspension.

Already we’ve looked at Ivan Toney (£7.9m), Kevin De Bruyne (£10.4m), James Maddison (£7.8m), Pervis Estupinan (£5.1m) and Pedro Neto (£5.6m).

Next up: Liverpool’s Andrew Robertson (£6.4m).

WHY HE’S BEEN OUT

Andy Robertson dislocated his shoulder during a collision with Unai Simon, Spain’s goalkeeper, in October.

It required surgery later that month and he’s not played since.

Without an operation, Robertson could have been back playing sooner but that would have carried significant risk of it happening again. Instead, he went under the knife, with a three-month recovery timeframe reported.

“Talking to pretty much all the experts it looks like surgery will be the best thing, especially in the long term, and that means he is out for a while.

“In my experience, you can train pretty quickly again but not football-specific so because you have to be careful of challenges and all these kind of things.” – Jurgen Klopp

RETURN DATE

The Scot is nearing a return to action for Liverpool.

He is progressing well and is ramping up his work on the training pitch, but may need some time to build fitness.

In last week’s EFL Cup semi-final presser, Pep Lijnders said:

“… and then we have Robbo, he’s almost at the three-month mark, so he will get checked by the surgeon. And if he does that scan and we see everything [so] that we can really progress him, he will go to Dubai for a week to do proper volume sessions, proper sessions, so that will be good for him. Then we see the three-month-mark scan and then we can see how quick he can go into contact again.” – Pep Lijnders

Jurgen Klopp has been keen to play down reports of Robertson returning to action this month but in an encouraging development, he did go to Dubai to take part in some warm-weather training.

FPL HISTORY

By his usual high standards, 2022/23 was a poor season for Robertson.

To his credit, he still placed joint-third among all FPL defenders for assists (eight), but it was undoubtedly a frustrating period for the Scot, who averaged just 4.0 points per start.

Robertson’s most productive FPL season came in 2018/19 when he broke the FPL record for points scored by a defender in a single campaign (213).

TAA IN MIDFIELD – IS IT BAD FOR ROBERTSON?

Much has been made of the change in Robertson’s role since Jurgen Klopp began experimenting with Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.5m) as a hybrid midfielder.

This started towards the back end of last season and did blunt the Scot, who had to become a third centre-back in possession.

He still had the license to push forward and provide width, but clearly had to pick and choose those moments.

“We cannot have one full-back in the centre of the field and the other one constantly high up on the left side.” – Jurgen Klopp

However, Alexander-Arnold won’t invert all the time and when he does, Liverpool aren’t as rigid as other teams who adopt this approach.

As a result, once the ball reaches the opposition half, the Scot is usually free to play as a full-back once again.

It’s also worth noting Kostas Tsimikas (£4.6m) supplied three assists in nine matches when performing a similar role earlier this season, offering encouragement.

There are other routes to points, too: in Gameweeks 1 to 8, Robertson delivered 24 corners for Liverpool and also took some free-kicks.

Above: Andrew Robertson (left) and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s (right) touch heatmaps against Brighton in Gameweek 8, the last time they started together

THE FPL PROSPECTS

Jurgen Klopp won’t want to rush Robertson back and given he is yet to return to full training, probably won’t be available until at least February.

Regaining match fitness is going to be key for him, but when that happens, he will be firmly back on the FPL radar, perhaps in time for Liverpool’s potential Double Gameweek 25.

Still, there are reasons to be cautious.

Tucking in as a third centre-half, his attacking threat could be compromised, so his role will need to be carefully monitored upon his return. It could, of course, develop as time goes on.

Can he rival Alexander-Arnold for a place in our backlines?

It’s perhaps unlikely in the current system, but it’s worth remembering Robertson is a whopping £2.1m cheaper than his team-mate at the time of writing, which could become a factor with so many heavy-hitters set to demand our attention in the coming weeks.

As for Liverpool, they should keep plenty of clean sheets, given that they have conceded just 18 goals all season, the fewest of any top-flight side, and rank third for expected goals conceded (xGC).