Arne Slot names Liverpool star who is 'back to normal' after not being 'of his standard'
Luis Diaz has scored five goals in as many Premier League fixtures.
The Colombia international has fired on all cylinders so far this campaign. His double in last weekend’s 3-0 win over AFC Bournemouth moved his tally to five goals in as many Premier League fixtures - and is behind only Manchester City’s Erling Haaland (10) in the scoring charts.
Diaz is very much on track to enjoy his best-ever campaign since joining from Porto in January 2022. He netted a total of eight league goals - and 13 in all competitions - last term and came under some criticism for not being potent enough in the final third.
Liverpool travel to Wolverhampton Wanderers tomorrow and Diaz is expected to be restored to the starting line-up after he was rested in for the 5-1 triumph over West Ham in the Carabao Cup earlier this week.
Asked about Diaz’s increase in output at his pre-match press conference, Slot insisted he’s done nothing in particular with the winger - and believes he’s delivering what is expected.
The Liverpool head coach said: “It’s difficult for me to judge because I wasn’t here last season. It’s still a small sample size we’re talking about and I said before when it comes to us winning quite a lot of games, almost all the teams are in the bottom half of the table and we expect [Manchester] United to be in the top [half] of the table at the end of the season.
“There is still a lot for us to prove. Maybe the fixture list helped us by the amount of goals the forwards scored and let’s see if we can score this amount of goals if the fixture list is getting harder and harder, starting against a difficult away game against Wolves.
“We train on a daily basis trying to get them in certain situations and help them the best possible way where to position themselves and what to do. It’s mainly, in the last third of the pitch, the quality of the player and the finishing - and I think he always had this.
“I wasn’t even dead aware he scored eight. For me, he was someone who can score a goal and eight, for his quality, is not of his standard. He just comes back to his normal situation, maybe last season he was unlucky but a player of his quality will always score a lot of goals.”