Darwin Núñez is finally finding his scoring touch in his first season at Liverpool — just in time for the World Cup, too.
With his first-half goal in a 1-0 win over West Ham in the Premier League on Wednesday, the Uruguay striker has now netted in three of his last four games for his best scoring run since joining Liverpool from Benfica.
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Núñez is showing he has the ability to score different types of goals, his latest seeing him get in between defenders to rise and glance home a fine header from a left-wing cross by Kostas Tsimikas in the 22nd minute.
Núñez also struck the post with a dipping shot in the first half as Liverpool returned to Anfield and recorded another 1-0 win — three days after beating Manchester City by the same score on a much more intense occasion.
“He was outstanding,” Klopp said. “He is a massive talent … He came from Portugal and he wasn’t there for long, so not too long away he was Uruguay. He is a really big talent and we’re really excited about him.”
Núñez came off in the 57th minute after feeling a slight muscle injury.
“I was too concerned about long sprints for him and balls where he stretched his leg — we cannot take that risk,” said Klopp, who is currently without forwards Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota because of injury.
West Ham’s best chance for an equalizer came after Liverpool defender Joe Gomez clumsily bundled into the back of Jarrod Bowen, conceding a penalty that was awarded by the referee after a pitchside review.
Bowen got up to take the spot kick himself and it was palmed aside by Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
“Nobody comes to Anfield and thinks it is an easy place to get a result — I know that more than anyone,” West Ham manager David Moyes said. “But I think we ran Liverpool close.”
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It completed a big week for Liverpool. Since losing to Arsenal 3-2 on Oct. 9, Jurgen Klopp’s team has routed Rangers 7-1 in the Champions League and earned back-to-back wins in the Premier League.
The result lifted Liverpool to seventh place, 11 points behind leader Arsenal.
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