Highlighting Darwin's invaluable contribution to Liverpool's quadruple bid

 

It will sound bizarre given he seems to always be a talking point, but Darwin Nunez is going a little under the radar this season.  

 

His 99th-minute winner against Nottingham Forest was his 10th Premier League goal of the season to go alongside his seven assists in the English top-flight. The enigmatic No.9 has now scored in three successive matches for the Reds and has 10 goal involvements in 11 appearances since the turn of the year.  

 

This haul is even more impressive when you consider Liverpool are in the middle of an injury crisis and the attack has practically been without talisman Mohamed Salah since the 4-2 win over Newcastle United on New Year’s Day.  

 

Darwin has now eclipsed the nine Premier League goals he scored during his debut campaign in England. In fact, he’s having a significantly better second season for the Reds. The former Benfica man has 16 goal involvements across 1,498 minutes this term. For context here, he finished the 2022/23 season with 12 goal involvements in 1,701 minutes.  

 

Only six players have been involved in more goals this season. It is quite the list, too. There’s Phil Foden (18), Heung-Min Son (19), Bukayo Saka (21), Erling Haaland (23), Salah (24) and Ollie Watkins (26). Of those, except the Liverpool No.11, they have all played a minimum of 1,800 Premier League minutes this term.  

 

It highlights the fact Darwin is keeping good company as a genuine goal threat despite not spending as much time on the pitch as others. This has barely been acknowledged though.  

 

Instead, the focus has primarily been on his misses.  

 

 

The 2022 summer signing is one of only two players to have missed more than 20 big chances this season. The other is Haaland, the top goalscorer in the Premier League.  

 

Yet many appear to be missing the point when assessing a striker. Of course, attackers are judged on goals but there’s much more to it these days.  

 

Darwin misses chances but he also creates chances out of nothing for himself, he carves out opportunities for teammates in a way that few others in the Premier League can and his presence on the pitch makes Liverpool even more threatening as a team.  

 

He’s a net positive for the Reds, even with the many, many missed chances. If you break down the goals he’s scored, his contribution to this title challenge is even more invaluable.  

 

The versatile forward scored the equaliser and then won the game for the Reds against Newcastle United in August. He scored the goal to give Liverpool the lead against West Ham United, a game Jurgen Klopp’s men went on to win 3-1. Darwin assisted the leveller against Brighton and his assist against Everton killed the game off in stoppage time. He also assisted the opener in games against Brentford and Newcastle while, again, assisting a stoppage-time second for the Reds in the win over Sheffield United. The No.9 opened the scoring for Liverpool in wins over Burnley, Bournemouth, Brentford and Nottingham Forest.  

 

His goal involvements matter. He’s not just bolstering his numbers when games are already dead and buried.  

 

He really is going under the radar this term with these numbers. He’s appeared in 38 games this season and he’s chipped in with a goal or an assist in 21 of those. That is a hit rate of 55%. So not only is he chipping in, but he’s also spreading the goal involvements.  

 

Plenty of players are contributing to Liverpool’s quadruple bid and most appear to be getting their flowers. Darwin, however, isn’t despite being as influential as anybody else for the Reds. Ironically for a player who is often the talking point, a lot of people have been silent when it comes to his contribution to this title challenge over recent weeks.

Highlighting Darwin's invaluable contribution to Liverpool's quadruple bid