Pundit says 'clever' Liverpool player has been way better than he expected this season

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Many expected the Reds to easily beat the Saints on Tuesday evening, but instead, it took until an 85th-minute strike from Hugo Ekitike to get the win over the line.

And, even though the Frenchman scored the winning goal, his red card dominated the headlines.

Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images

Although Tuesday’s game wasn’t Ekitike’s best performance of his Liverpool career, the striker has certainly been a bright spark in the Anfield camp this term.

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Of course, when he signed the contract, Isak wasn’t even a Liverpool player, so the thought of being the Reds’ only natural striker may have swayed him to make that decision.

However, since Isak isn’t fully fit yet, he’s been able to prove his worth to Slot with former West Ham United man Nigel Reo-Coker admitting that Ekitike has done much better than he expected him to this term.

“It’s a tough fixture because they’re going to play a Crystal Palace side that’s not going to be no rollover,” Reo-Coker said.

“They’re going to be very hard to beat and Ekitike has started great at Liverpool so far, scoring goals, doing everything that we probably expected.

“[In fact] he’s probably exceeded expectations by most people for how he’s started because Isak was the man.

“But to do that [get red carded], to make it about yourself, pulling your shirt, it was unnecessary.

“It will probably make Arne Slot look at him to say ‘I can trust you to a certain degree,’ but he’ll have to reevaluate how much he can trust you as a player because you’ve got the experience, there’s no need after a silly booking.”

Now that Ekitike is set to miss Liverpool’s upcoming Premier League clash against Crystal Palace, Slot has some decisions to make.

On Tuesday, both Isak and Ekitike played 45 minutes each, which means that the Sweden international is likely to feature at some point in the game.