It might only be the end of November, but Liverpool are already the early favourites to claim the 2024-25 English Premier League title, given they boast an eight-point lead over nearest rivals, and champions, Manchester City.
It’s a new-look Anfield side to the one that last lifted the league crown back in 2019-20 with revered German manager Jurgen Klopp, since departed, in charge.
Since, and in an example of the revamped Roshn Saudi League’s pulling power, many of that team now ply their trade in the top tier of Saudi Arabian football. Sadio Mane is at Al Nassr - and thriving this season - while Roberto Firmino captains Al Ahli. Meanwhile, Jordan Henderson had a spell last season with Al Ettifaq.
There are two others that were also integral in the engine room for Klopp’s Liverpool luminaries, who stormed their way to a 30-year-drought-breaking league title more than four years ago.
While it was players such as Mohamed Salah, Mane and Firmino who stole the headlines, the duo of Georginio Wijnaldum and Fabinho represented the heartbeat of the side, often providing the platform in midfield for the forward line to shine. Whether shielding the defence or playing the crucial linking role with the attack, the pair could do it all.
Undoubtedly, they were a quiet - but very large - part of the reason for Liverpool’s success that season.
Al Ittihad's Fabinho celebrates goal v Al Fateh
Klopp, who was replaced at the decorated English club this summer by Arne Slot, explained how and why both were so important to the team - and each other.
“If you have Gini on the ‘six’ you miss him on the ‘eight’ as well,” Klopp explained in 2021 after Fabinho returned from an injury lay-off. “A lot of things which were settled before were unsettled after that and, yes, Fabinho helps everybody on the pitch in both directions if he can play his natural position.
“Fabinho played for the first time in a long time on ‘six’ and you see, of course, the difference he can make in defending, but connecting as well and these kinds of things.”
After sharing the Anfield dressing room for so long, the former teammates now play on either side of the Kingdom: Fabinho in the west with Jeddah giants, Al Ittihad, while Wijnaldum resides in the east with Al Ettifaq. There, he works under another Liverpool legend, manager Steven Gerrard.
Both current players have settled incredibly well into their new surrounds, and it’s no surprise that they have each become critical cogs for their respective sides, just as they were at Anfield. Wijnaldum, who scored six goals and had five assists last season, has been full of praise for his new environment whenever he has had a chance. He is now Al Ettifaq captain.
“To give my real opinion on the level, I can give it now that I’ve been here a year in Saudi playing against different teams home and away," the Netherlands midfielder said after the UEFA European Championships this summer.
"You can see it in the first half of the season and the second half that, when you play the teams a second time, it was totally different and that everyone is evolving.
"Everyone is making big steps in development, but this season we're going to see how much the league is really developing. It’s a new year, better players are coming to the league, and the clubs are even better than before. There was already a lot of development last season, but I expect more now because teams are getting better, and new and better players are coming."
This weekend they’ll once again find themselves sharing the pitch, but in their new colours instead of Liverpool’s iconic red kit. It is at the EGO Stadium that Al Ettifaq look to turn around a disappointing season thus far – they are winless in eight in the RSL - while Al Ittihad seek to retain their spot at the top of the table.
It won’t be the first time the companions and former colleagues come head-to-head in the RSL; that happened almost a year ago to the day, when the two sides played out a 1-1 draw, with Wijnaldum arguably taking the honours given he found himself on the scoresheet.
When the teams met again, Al Ettifaq claimed one of the results of the campaign in defeating Al Ittihad 5-0 - in Jeddah - although Fabinho was absent from that game and had to watch the unfolding drama from the sidelines.
On Saturday, Fabinho and Wijnaldum should face-off once more in what feels a pivotal fixture for both sides. Courtesy of their win against Al Fateh last weekend, and Al Hilal slipping up against Al Khaleej, Laurent Blanc’s men now perch at the summit and will be in no mood to give it up when they travel to Dammam.
It is there they will attempt to extend their run of seven straight wins in the league. Al Ettifaq, meanwhile, are at the opposite end of the form book. For sure, while there will be no love lost on the pitch, once the final whistle has blown, Wijnaldum and Fabinho will no doubt share a warm embrace.
They may be foes on the pitch these days, but thanks to their history-making heroics in Liverpool, they will always be friends off it.