One Liverpool player has drawn praise for his ‘livewire’ performance against PSV Eindhoven at Anfield on Wednesday night.
The Reds got off to the worst possible start after Virgil van Dijk gave away a penalty inside the first five minutes, with the captain being widely criticised over his needless handball, and Ivan Perisic made no mistake from the spot.
However, Dominik Szoboszlai equalised just 10 minutes later and Arne Slot’s side had the best of the play for the remainder of the first half, albeit without being able to get their noses in front by the interval.
Ekitike praised for ‘livewire display’
Hugo Ekitike was recalled to the Liverpool starting XI in one of two changes from the defeat to Nottingham Forest last weekend, and the Frenchman cut a lively figure in the first half at Anfield as he sought to justify his recall to the line-up.
Reporter Adam Bate feels that the 23-year-old has done just that, stating on Sky Sports‘ live web commentary (20:48): “Ekitike has justified his inclusion too with a livewire display.”
Hugo Ekitike was praise for his 'livewire' performance against PSV Eindhoven
(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Ekitike impressing upon recall to Liverpool starting XI
Alexander Isak was castigated for his ‘completely anonymous‘ performance against Forest on Saturday, and Ekitike has certainly been more involved in the play tonight than his fellow centre-forward was four days ago.
As per Sofascore, the France international won three of his five first-half duels, completed 92% of his passes and one dribble, and had two shots on target against PSV.
The Reds’ number 22 drew a strong save from Matej Kovar after a mazy run to the edge of the box, and an attempted overhead kick also illustrated the 23-year-old’s confidence levels. He could well have earned a penalty, too, after being impeded by Anass Salah-Eddine, but the referee wasn’t interested.
Ekitike will know that he and Isak are battling for the one centre-forward berth at Liverpool, unless Arne Slot were to deviate from his usual formation, and so far tonight the former Eintracht Frankfurt is showing that he deserves the nod to start. All he needs now is to add to his tally of six goals for the campaign so far.