Alongside Hugo Ekitike, Liverpool star who completed 24 sprints was unsung hero vs Bournemouth
Hugo Ekitike stole the headlines as Liverpool kicked off their Premier League title defence with a 4-2 victory over Bournemouth on Friday.
Ekitike was named Player of the Match as Arne Slot’s side picked up three points against Bournemouth at Anfield on 15 August.
The Frenchman opened the scoring and provided an assist for Cody Gakpo before Antoine Semenyo scored an impressive brace to level the score at 2-2 midway through the second half, with Jamie Carragher tearing into Ibrahima Konate for his defending.
Federico Chiesa restored Liverpool’s lead late on before Mohammed Salah sealed the victory in stoppage time.
Ekitike proves his quality v Bournemouth
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Slot’s side at Anfield against Bournemouth.
However, Ekitike’s Premier League debut will have certainly left supporters feeling excited. The 23-year-old was a threat all night, generating 1.14 expected goals and missing one big chance in addition to his goal and assist, as per Sofascore.
The forward covered 8.7 kilometres, hit a top speed of 32.5km/hour and also managed to play two key passes.
It was a performance which demonstrated that Ekitike could terrorise Premier League defences for years to come, and might leave some supporters questioning whether Liverpool need to splash the cash on Alexander Isak.
However, there was another player on the pitch at Anfield who perhaps deserves a bit more praise.
Dominik Szoboszlai is an unsung hero v Bournemouth
While he didn’t steal the headlines with any goals or assists, Dominik Szoboszlai deserves praise for his performance against the Cherries.
No player covered more distance than the Hungarian at Anfield on Friday, while he also recorded more sprints than any of his Liverpool teammates against Andoni Iraola’s side.
Szoboszlai v Bournemouth
- Distance Covered: 11.5km
- Sprints: 24
- Top Speed: 30.1km/h
- Key Passes: Two
- Tackles: Four
It wasn’t a perfect evening for the midfielder, who did make an error which led to a goal. However, it was his industrious and hard-working performance in midfield that gave Ekitike the platform to go and steal the headlines for Liverpool.
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