Darwin Nunez continued his impressive pre-season form with his fourth goal in three appearances as Liverpool thrashed Leicester at the Singapore National Stadium
Darwin Nunez opened the scoring for Liverpool against Leicester
Jurgen Klopp has hinted that Darwin Nunez will be in the Liverpool starting XI to face Chelsea on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.
Nunez, 24, started and scored in the Reds’ thumping 4-0 win over Leicester on Sunday as Liverpool continued their unbeaten start to pre-season. Bobby Clark, Diogo Jota and Ben Doak also scored for the Reds in Singapore.
But Nunez’s performance once again caught the headlines as the Uruguayan kept up his excellent scoring spree, having now scored four times in three matches during pre-season. He also grabbed an assist in the Reds’ 4-4 draw against Greuther Furth last Monday, adding to his brace.
Nunez’s other strike came in the 4-2 victory over Karlsruher, with the forward finding his feet in the Liverpool side after a difficult first season at the club. And now, Klopp has suggested that the ex-Benfica forward will be in the starting line-up to face Chelsea on August 13.
Speaking after his side’s win over Leicester, Klopp said: “Sometimes a player needs more time, that’s how it is. You can see he is a handful, with his speed, his goal being there, smelling it and finishing it off. In training he has looked very good. Now two more games then Chelsea.”
Klopp has a plethora of attacking options to choose from ahead of their Premier League opener against Chelsea in two weeks’ time. Jota and Mohamed Salah started alongside Nunez for the clash with Leicester, leaving Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo on the bench.
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Klopp has suggested that Nunez will be in the starting line-up to face Chelsea on August 13 (
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He has been pleased with his side throughout pre-season as they continue their preparations heading into the opening weekend of the campaign. Klopp added: “They [attackers] all are a threat, they all are good footballers – the ticket into the team will be the readiness for defence because you never hear about a team being really successful with sloppy defending, it just will not happen.
“For Darwin [it’s] the same like for all the other strikers as well because I know about the quality they have and they need to do both, like our other players have to do both as well – defend and being influential in all the offensive situations.”
Liverpool are next in action when they face Bayern Munich in their latest pre-season encounter, before ending off with a game against Darmstadt at Preston’s Deepdale on August 7. This is all ahead of the game against Chelsea, while Bournemouth and Newcastle are also to come in the opening month of the season.
