Richarlison and Liverpool star lead Premier League in statistic Arne Slot will love
Liverpool have already pulled ahead in the Premier League title race and will fancy themselves to retain the trophy.
Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City on Sunday was perhaps the perfect result for Liverpool, as their two main competitors both dropped points.
Arne Slot’s side have won their opening five games, and sit five points clear at the top of the Premier League despite not being wholly convincing overall.
With Alexander Isak set to play a bigger role in the coming months, they are in an excellent position.
Liverpool made a lot of new signings over the summer, with Florian Wirtz still adapting to life at Anfield, but one addition is now thriving among his peers.
Hugo Ekitike alongside Richarlison as best Premier League finishers
Isak will be afforded more time to adapt at Liverpool as Hugo Ekitike has started superbly since his big-money move from Eintracht Frankfurt.
Ekitike has scored three Premier League goals, with his latest strike coming in Liverpool’s victory over Everton in the Merseyside derby, and he has done this without a single penalty.
- Ekitike has scored three times from an expected goals (xG) total of 1.78, with a differential of 1.22.
- Out of the 13 players with the most non-penalty xG accumulated this season, Ekitike’s differential is second only to Richarlison, who has scored three times from 1.64 xG.
- This means that Ekitike and Richarlison rank as the biggest overperformers of xG from the players who have accumulated the most.
The Frenchman’s finishing has seen him strike superbly from chances which were not necessarily big opportunities, maximising the value of his shots, and this shows that there is plenty more to come from the forward.
| Forward | Club | xG (excl. pens) | Goals (excl. pens) | Differential |
| Erling Haaland | Man City | 6.26 | 6.00 | – 0.26 |
| Jaidon Anthony | Burnley | 2.06 | 3.00 | + 0.94 |
| Beto | Everton | 2.00 | 1.00 | – 1.00 |
| Antoine Semenyo | Bournemouth | 1.99 | 2.00 | + 0.01 |
| Chris Wood | Nott’m Forest | 1.99 | 2.00 | + 0.01 |
| Ismaila Sarr | Crystal Palace | 1.98 | 2.00 | + 0.02 |
| Jean-Philippe Mateta | Crystal Palace | 1.89 | 1.00 | – 0.89 |
| Bryan Mbeumo | Man United | 1.85 | 1.00 | – 0.85 |
| Hugo Ekitike | Liverpool | 1.78 | 3.00 | + 1.22 |
| Richarlison | Spurs | 1.64 | 3.00 | + 1.36 |
| Joao Pedro | Chelsea | 1.50 | 2.00 | + 0.50 |
| Viktor Gyokeres | Arsenal | 1.34 | 2.00 | + 0.66 |
| Iliman Ndiaye | Everton | 1.30 | 2.00 | + 0.70 |
Sunderland striker Wilson Isidor actually has an xG differential of 1.98, having scored three times from 1.02 xG, but does not feature in this list, having accumulated less than the other attackers.
Hugo Ekitike can take goalscoring to another level
Slot will be delighted that Ekitike has started so well with regard to his finishing, and there could yet be another explosion for the Frenchman.
Ekitike’s goals have come despite Wirtz struggling to adapt in his early days at Liverpool, and some of the team’s performances have been disjointed.
Once Wirtz gets fully firing, Ekitike will have even more service being fed into him, and this should see him increase his xG as the season goes on.
If the 23-year-old can maintain his consistently brilliant finishing as his chances increase, then he can truly establish himself as a deadly threat in front of goal, but Ekitike will be wary that Isak could inhibit some of his game time.
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