Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez tops elite list ahead of £100m star and Arsenal man

Darwin Nunez’s Liverpool career has finally begun to take off following his £85m summer move from Benfica, as it’s been revealed he tops a list of elite strikers in the Premier League that includes Erling Haaland.

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for the Uruguayan since joining from Benfica in the summer as his and the team’s form have been inconsistent across the eight months of the season so far.

However, his recent performances have seen him score four in four games in all competitions, including two in the demolition of Manchester United and one against the reigning European Champions Real Madrid - a goal that has since earned him win the Liverpool goal of the month competition.

Prior to February, most of the talk from fans was how wasteful Nunez had been in front of goal, backed up by the fact he had missed the most big chances in Europe.

Nevertheless, his expected goals statistic has always been high; over the course of the last 365 days Nunez has topped the non-penalty xG per game charts for all forwards in Europe’s top five leagues and now he’s topped the Premier League charts for this season so far.

As revealed by Opta on Sky Sports News, Nunez tops the xG per 90 list for Premier League players ahead of Manchester City’s talisman Haaland, who currently sits on 27 goals so far.

For Nunez, it’s eight goals and three assists in 19 games, with only 15 starts. In terms of the season as a whole, he has 18 goal contributions in 31 games which represents a great return in a debut season - especially considering Liverpool’s inconsistent form.

Klopp called him a ‘force of nature’ following the United win and his all-round impact on games is now being recognised more regularly, simply down to the fact he’s now converting chances and that Liverpool are winning games once again.

Any shouts of a ‘flop’ signing have been quickly dismissed by anyone who has frequetly watched Liverpool this season and now it’s a case of continuing to replicate that form to fire Liverpool into the top four.