Arne Slot hails Hugo Ekitike fitness after convincing him to work on physicality

Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitike’s five goals in four matches suggest he is starting to get to grips with the Premier League but head coach Arne Slot admits he had to push the player to reach his current levels.

The 22-year-old scored on his first three appearances after his move from Eintracht Frankfurt but the £125million arrival of Alexander Isak stole some of his glory.

He subsequently endured a run of three goals in his next 17 matches as the integration of the British record signing and the team’s struggles on the pitch impacted his form.

But with Isak now sidelined for a number of months and Mohamed Salah at the Africa Cup of Nations, there is a greater responsibility on the France international.

And continued work on his adaptation to English football, specifically from a physicality point of view, is paying dividends in his current purple patch – although Slot says the player had to be persuaded it was in his best interests.

“He showed a lot of hard work to get to this fitness level where he is at the moment,” the Dutchman said.

“It sometimes took us – me – a bit of convincing that this all is actually needed to become stronger but he always did it, not always with a smile on his face but he has worked really hard to get fitter on and off the pitch.

“I’ve tried to convince him as well, the better you defend a set-piece the bigger chance you have to score at the other end, because if you are 0-0 it is easier to score a goal than if you are 1-0 down.

“It may sound strange but it is what it does with the energy levels of the other team. For us and him to score goals, it is important we don’t concede from set-pieces.

“He is ready to go into the programme we are facing now but he is not the only number nine I have. Federico Chiesa can play in that position as well.”

Liverpool head into the home game against bottom side Wolves on a run of six matches unbeaten (four wins, two draws) and it appears they have turned a corner after nine losses in 12.

However, Slot did not feel there had been much difference in a lot of the performances over those two runs.

“The main thing that has changed is, apart from the second half against Brighton (2-0 win on December 13), we haven’t conceded that many chances as we did in the run we had before,” he added.

“I also think we have been a bit more lucky than in the games before because we have played games where we were so much better than the other teams.

“In the last game against Spurs (2-1 win last Saturday) I don’t think we had many more chances against them and against Brighton it was equal as well, and those two games we won.

“Many times we have been so unlucky with the result, almost every time, but in the last two games I wouldn’t say we didn’t deserve it but they were more equal games than many others we have played which we lost.”