Liverpool’s 5th straight win by way of their cross-town rivals, Everton, in the Merseyside Derby helps to keep the Reds not only top of the very nascent Premier League table, but also preserves a 100% record. Central to bringing home this win is the match’s game winning scorer, Hugo Ekitike.
Ekitke’s start to life in Red has been nothing short of perfect. 3 goals and 1 assist across 5 Premier League appearances is an outrageous return for a new signing. If you were to take those numbers and put them
against his minutes played – 370 – he looks even better, boasting a goal involvement every 92.5 minutes. And there’s not reason to think it won’t get better.
For his part, the Frenchman was feeling quite buoyant after his performance. And rightly so, as he was an absolute handful for Everton defenders for the time he was on the pitch. When asked about it by the official site, it was clear Hugo relished the experience of his first Merseyside Derby.
“Top. Top, top. Obviously I knew that game was really important for the fans, so a win today was important. I felt the stadium and the crowd was very loud today. It’s a very proud feeling, happy feeling. We just have to keep going.”
It’s early days so I’m trying to remain grounded, but seeing how well Ekitke has worked into Slot’s system and bonded with his fellow attackers is really something special. While the clear chances were few and far between, it felt like whenever he did have site of the goal, he managed to look incredibly dangerous. That the description would be true across all of his performances speaks to the quality he brings to the team.
And yet, he still wants more.
“I want to score every game, if you ask me. The last game I didn’t score but I always try to find a way to make the difference. It can be a goal, an assist, a run to create space for another player. It’s good.”
Truly hard not to love the big man when he has such a determined outlook. In truth, it seems to be expressed in his style of play: willing to move and come to the ball, work to find new angles, and is seemingly relentless in their focus towards placing the ball in the back of the net.
Add in actual goals and that’s really the ideal striker, isn’t it? Long may this rich vein of form continue.
