Arne Slot names the one thing Hugo Ekitike must improve at Liverpool as Arsenal threat outlined

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Liverpool boss Arne Slot previews the game with Arsenal at Anfield on August 31, 2025

Arne Slot believes there is much more to come from Hugo Ekitike after the striker made a flying start to his Liverpool career with three goals in as many games this month.

Ekitike joined from Eintracht Frankfurt in a £79m deal in late July and flew in to meet his new team-mates during the Hong Kong leg of their pre-season tour before making his unofficial debut against Yokohama F Marinos in Japan the following week.

The France Under-21 international has so registered in the Community Shield penalties defeat to Crystal Palace and the two Premier League fixtures at home to Bournemouth and away at Newcastle United on Monday night.

Despite Ekitike becoming the third most expensive signing of all time at Anfield behind the £116m and £85m fees committed for Florian Wirtz this summer and Darwin Nunez in 2022, the former Frankfurt star could face increased competition for his spot before the end of the transfer window as the Reds await encouragement from Newcastle over a potential British record deal for Alexander Isak.

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Despite that prospect, Slot has been impressed by what he has seen so far from Ekitike but believes this is still plenty of room to develop and improve as a Liverpool player.

"He has made a big impact on our attacking, not just scoring goals but other situations where he was someone starting attacks or part of us starting attacks," Slot said.

"That is a bit more than last season although when Lucho (Luis Diaz) played there he was part of our build-up.

But that is normal as he had to adjust to a different league and a different playing style.

"Frankfurt pressed but not as much as we try to do and then coming to a different country and league, there is a lot for him to handle.

"After the international break, there are Champions League games added.

He was used to playing in the Europa League, which is a good level but not as high as the Champions League.

"There is the main point of improvement, which is also completely normal because he came a bit later in pre-season so to adapt to the intensity levels without the ball, they are the small steps to take."

Ekitike is expected to lead the line on Sunday when the Premier League champions host Mikel Arteta's Arsenal and Slot is expecting his side's vulnerability at set-pieces so far this season to be exploited by the Gunners if there is no improvement in defending the dead-ball situations.

"The most simple answer to that is a lot because we face a very strong team that was already really good last season and have improved their squad a lot in the summer," Slot said.

"If you look at all the quality they have, but especially one thing that stands out in the season until now and in a negative way for us, is we have conceded, if I include the (Athletic) Bilbao game, four set-pieces.

"As we all know, that is one of their strengths, not their only strength.

They can play in multiple ways; you can see how well they are managed by Mikel and they are working for almost five years together because they can play almost every style in football.

"But one of their strengths is set-pieces and that is an area where we, if you look at Monday when we face Newcastle, we conceded two at Newcastle, and against Bilbao we conceded two.

It’s a part we need to improve on and something we were really good at last season, so there is no panicking.

"We also had to defend 350 set-pieces at Newcastle, so only conceding two is not too bad."

On Rio Ngumoha, who celebrates his 17th on Friday just days after his 100th-minute against Newcastle saw him become the youngest scorer in the club's history, Slot added: "Left winger.