Opta Analyst look at the Frenchman’s impressive impact and stats since his arrival in the summer
David Segar of Opta Analyst on why Hugo Ekitike has staked his claim to be Liverpool’s main No 9 over Alexander Isak.
Among a largely disappointing start to the season for Liverpool, Hugo Ekitike has been one of the club’s best players, a view cemented further when he scored both goals in the 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield on Saturday.
Watch Ekitike’s Matchweek 16 highlights
It was the second league game in a row in which the summer signing from Eintracht Frankfurt put his team 2-0 up with a brace, but unlike the chaotic 3-3 draw at Leeds United a week prior, Arne Slot’s men were able to take full advantage of it against Brighton.
Ekitike has reached double figures already in all competitions and has seven goals in his first 10 Premier League starts, the same as Mohamed Salah managed after he joined in June 2017. Only Daniel Sturridge (eight goals) has scored more in the competition for the Reds in his first 10 starts.
Most goals scored for Liverpool after 10 Premier League starts
Player
Goals
Daniel Sturridge
8
Hugo Ekitike, Mohamed Salah
7
Sadio Mane, Robbie Fowler
6
The 23-year-old is averaging 0.72 non-penalty goals per 90 minutes in the Premier League. Of players to have played at least 500 minutes this season, only Erling Haaland (1.05) has a better rate.
That is particularly impressive when you consider Ekitike has been in and out of the team, and settling into a side who have struggled for much of the season.
He has impressed from the start, scoring on his Liverpool debut in the FA Community Shield, then finding the net again in his first Premier League appearance against AFC Bournemouth. In fact, Ekitike started each of Liverpool’s first five league games, all of which they won.
To show how influential Ekitike has been, Liverpool have won seven of the 10 league games he’s started this season (one draw, two losses), but just one of the six he hasn’t (one draw, four losses).
They have also averaged exactly two goals per game when he’s started, compared to just one per game when he hasn’t.
How Liverpool have performed with and without Ekitike
With Ekitike starting
Without Ekitike starting
10
Matches
6
7
Wins
1
1
Draws
1
2
Losses
4
2.0
Ave. goals for
1.0
2.2
Ave. points per game
0.7
Ekitike’s 10 goals for Liverpool in all competitions are at least twice as many as any of his team-mates, but he does more than just find the net.
It was clear from his time at Eintracht that Ekitike likes to carry the ball. Only three players from Europe’s top five leagues totalled more shot-ending carries than him last season, and after 16 matches in 2025/26, just three players in the Premier League have more than his 1.14 shot-ending carries per 90 (min. 500 minutes).
Despite technically being a central striker, Ekitike likes to drift out wide to receive the ball. You can see this from his heat map below; he gets involved in all areas of the opposition’s half.
His performance against Brighton was more than just his two goals. He completed three of his four dribbles – only Curtis Jones (four of five) completed more for Liverpool.
Ekitike also gets more involved than most strikers. He is averaging 37.6 touches per 90 in the Premier League this season; of forwards who predominantly play centrally, only Chelsea’s Joao Pedro (45.6 touches per 90) has averaged more this season in England’s top flight (min. 500 minutes), and the Brazilian has often played as a No 10 in recent weeks.
Ekitike’s 49 touches against Brighton were at least 11 more than he’s had in any other game this season, with the next highest being the previous league game at Leeds, suggesting he is settling more and more into his new team.
Ekitike came off with cramp in the 78th minute on Saturday having attempted seven shots, the most by a Liverpool player in a game this season; no Reds player has attempted more since Cody Gakpo had eight shots against West Ham United in April 2024.
Two of the Frenchman’s shots ended with goals, with the first coming after just 46 seconds.
Despite being so early into the match, it was superbly taken, showing tremendous awareness just a few seconds into the game.
Having been out wide moments earlier to offer a passing option to Jones, Ekitike made himself available for Joe Gomez to nod the ball to him in the danger area after Yankuba Minteh smashed a clearance into the air.
He controlled with the outside of his boot and volleyed into the roof of the net in a fluid motion. To hit a rising ball that accurately showed the confidence he has, and perhaps the finishing ability some didn’t think he had when they just looked at his Expected Goals (xG) underperformance from last season.
Ekitike scored 14 Bundesliga goals from 19.2xG in 2024/25, the worst underperformance compared to xG across Europe’s top five leagues.
He has scored seven goals from 4.24xG in the Premier League this season, with only Morgan Rogers (3.32) and Phil Foden (3.04) outperforming their xG by more in the division.
His second goal against Brighton was a simple header when he found himself unmarked from a corner on the hour mark for his first headed goal for Liverpool.
Another thing Ekitike has carried on from his form in Germany is his ability to rack up impressive non-penalty xG numbers, showing how good he is at getting into dangerous positions.
Last season, he had the third-highest xG total from non-penalty shots across the top five European leagues, with 19.2; this season, only five players have a higher non-penalty xG per 90 in the Premier League (min. 500 minutes) than his 0.44.
Slot has been able to fit Ekitike into his team relatively seamlessly, which is credit both to him and to the efforts of the player.
After the Brighton win, Slot said: “What I see with [Ekitike], and I see this with all the players we’ve brought in this summer, they had to adapt to the Premier League, to that intensity, because they were all young. All the players we brought in are young players, except for [Isak], but all the others are very young.”
“That is what this league brings. If you cannot be so intense for such a long time, it’s so hard to win a game of football because the best players, athletes, in the world play in this league, and we are trying to prepare them more and more, better and better for that – and I can see that progress with most of our signings, maybe all of them.”
So, if his head coach is right, it seems there’s potentially even more to come from Ekitike.
With back-to-back wins in the last week against Internazionale Milano and Brighton, things are starting to look up again for Liverpool. They will need a lot more victories to fully be back on track, but having Ekitike in this form should certainly help with that.
Just imagine what he’ll be capable of if Liverpool start performing to the levels many expected them to in the summer.
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