Hugo Ekitike is already delivering goals for Liverpool and sprint stats show Arne Slot is right - there is more to come
In this week's edition of The Debrief, Adam Bate looks at Hugo Ekitike's impressive start for Liverpool and the area in which he is still improving. Plus: Bukayo Saka's crossing for Arsenal and Nick Woltemade's difficult day for Newcastle
Monday 15 December 2025 11:50, UK
Welcome to The Debrief, a Sky Sports column in which Adam Bate uses a blend of data and opinion to reflect on some of the key stories from the latest Premier League matches. This week:
- Ekitike's sprint stats on rise
- Saka's key crossing numbers
- Woltemade isolated up front
Ekitike impressing - and improving
Hugo Ekitike scored both Liverpool goals in their 2-0 win over Brighton to take his total for the Premier League season to seven. Only Erling Haaland has scored more goals from open-play situations than the summer signing from Eintracht Frankfurt.
While Mohamed Salah's impressive return to the team as an early substitute was the story at Anfield on Saturday, Ekitike's contribution highlighted his growing impact. His seven shots and 12 touches in the box were both weekend highs in the Premier League.
He was substituted himself, soon after appearing to suffer from cramp, something that Arne Slot referenced afterwards. "I can assure you that he did probably twice as much as in games in the beginning of the season where I had to take him off with cramp."
Ekitike's sprints stats underline that point. He made 25 high-intensity sprints against Brighton, according to Opta. That was the most that he has made in any Premier League appearance - breaking his record of 24 that he had set in the previous game at Leeds.
"He is getting more and more energy to keep on running with and without the ball," Slot explained. It is partly why the Anfield crowd have taken to him so quickly, regularly chanting his name. Ekitike's driving runs catch the eye, as does his all-round game.
The contrast with Alexander Isak, the striker for whom Liverpool broke the British transfer record shortly after signing Ekitike, is irresistible. It is not just that Ekitike has outscored Isak, he has looked the superior player so far in every attacking aspect.
Perhaps most satisfyingly for Liverpool, he has outperformed his expected goals total, finding the net seven times from chances that might have been expected to yield an average of 4.24 goals. Interesting when Ekitike's finishing at Frankfurt had been a red flag last season.
But that reputation for wastefulness was identified by Liverpool as a reason to believe he was underrated. The huge scope for improvement in his game is already apparent and Isak is now facing a fight to prove that he should be the team's first-choice striker.
Even with the Swede still finding his feet, the difference in shot volume and expected goals is not so great and the numbers may swing in his favour eventually. But, for now, it is Ekitike who has seized his chance. It is Isak who is playing catch up in every sense.
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Saka's crossing crucial for Arsenal
Arsenal's 94th-minute winner against bottom club Wolves on Saturday evening owed something to fortune given that it was an own goal by Yerson Mosquera. However, the source of the goal was less surprising given that it came from a Bukayo Saka cross.
Arsenal's first goal had some similarities - goalkeeper Sam Johnstone diverting Saka's corner into his own net. Fantasy football players were celebrating two Saka assists, although, as own goals, neither technically count towards Saka's Opta assists total.
That does not change the fact that the Gunners are so reliant on his ability to create. While Gabriel Martinelli had the team's two best chances, most of the attacks came from the right wing and, in particular, Saka's regular flow of crosses into the box.
His total of five successful open-play crosses was the most of the Premier League weekend by far, no other player managing more than two. No wonder Wolves boss Rob Edwards was left bemoaning Fer Lopez's failure to prevent that final ball reaching the penalty box.
"Stop the cross, defend the cross," said Edwards afterwards. "We have done it for almost 100 minutes. Do it for that last bit, we take something from the game." That will undoubtedly be a concern for Arsenal. But stopping Saka is clearly easier said than done.
Woltemade's woe for Newcastle
It was a privilege to be at the Stadium of Light to witness the return of one of the great fixtures of English football to the Premier League. Nick Woltemade will not have enjoyed it quite so much as it was his own goal that decided the game in Sunderland's favour.
The German would have dreamed of heading into the back of the net and then being serenaded from the field by supporters. Unfortunately, it was his team's net and Sunderland's supporters. The longer-term concern was his lack of impact at the other end.
Newcastle were so poor, with the support for the lone striker nowhere near good enough. Woltemade completed only two passes in the game and not one after his own goal despite being on the pitch for another half an hour before being substituted.
Eddie Howe suggested afterwards that the aim had been to keep it tight. "That was our plan in the first half, to be solid and compact." But it left Anthony Elanga and Anthony Gordon operating so deep and Woltemade cut a desperately isolated figure throughout.
He was not free from blame. His hold-up success rate this season is below 50 per cent despite his vast frame and there was one glorious opportunity to play in Gordon during the first half that, had he shown better awareness, might have changed the game completely.
Howe also pointed to the possibility of fatigue as an explanation for Woltemade's performance given that he has had to carry the load up front with Yoane Wissa not available to share that burden. Since signing from Stuttgart, he has started every Premier League game.
But Woltemade's record of one goal in his last 10 games for Newcastle shows why Wissa's return cannot come soon enough. It also suggests that Howe might need to tweak the system to get the best from a player in need of a better structure around him.
