I'm worried for Hugo Ekitike's form after watching Arne Slot's pre-West Ham press conference - opinion

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Hugo Ekitike has had a prolific start to life at Liverpool, but he clearly struggles when not playing with Florian Wirtz, who has been ruled out of the West Ham fixture.Wirtz and Ekitike’s partnership has been a joy to watch this season, with the duo already combining for six goals in 2025/26.If the pair link up again before the end of the campaign, they will break a record set by Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard for most goal combinations from two Liverpool players aged 23 or under in a single season (2002/03). Who should be Liverpool’s no.10 vs West Ham?

Mac Allister over Szoboszlai? 🤔 Credit: Julian Finney/Getty Images However, we now know that record won’t be broken this weekend, as Wirtz will miss the West Ham fixture on Saturday.Hugo Ekitike needs Florian Wirtz to thrive at LiverpoolSlot confirmed the blow in his pre-West Ham press conference, but that was not the most concerning comment made by the Dutchman.When pressed on the 22-year-old’s issue, he admitted he still had no idea when Wirtz would return.Slot stated: “At this moment [in] time, I don’t know. But this time, I honestly don’t know.”A worrying statement from the manager, especially when it comes to how it will impact Ekitike.

CHANGE MY MIND: Liverpool will drop points vs West Ham if Wirtz doesn’t play 👀 He's our most important player right now, not Szoboszlai Photo by Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images Wirtz missed the win over Nottingham Forest last Sunday, with Curtis Jones initially starting as the 10.That really did not work out, and we eventually saw Alexis Mac Allister pushed higher up the pitch.In turn, it will most likely be Dominik Szoboszlai or the Argentine who fills in for Wirtz moving forward.However, none of Liverpool’s other midfield options have anywhere close to the same connection with Ekitike as the German.This was more than clear in the Forest clash, with the former Eintracht Frankfurt forward often looking so isolated up top. He didn’t have a single touch in the opening eight minutes of the game and completed just four passes in the first half.The lack of connection between Ekitike and the rest of the squad has been made clear in the numbers as well.Throughout his time at Liverpool, the striker has combined with Wirtz three times more than any other teammate (Cody Gakpo second with two).Rather concerningly, his link-up play with the two men in contention to start as the 10 on Saturday, and moving forward, is even worse.Ekitike and Szoboszlai are yet to combine for a single goal at Liverpool, while he has managed just one joint-goal participation with Mac Allister.Even Mohamed Salah, who will probably start on the right this weekend, has only linked up with the 23-year-old once.Ekitike is already on a run of four games without a goal, and with Slot still unable to put a timeline in place for Wirtz’s return, it may well be the case that Liverpool’s only fit centre-forward continues to struggle to find the back of the net moving forward.Join Our NewsletterReceive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox