Liverpool reporter hints at what might happen with Hugo Ekitike once Isak returns from injury
A seasoned Liverpool reporter firmly believes that Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike can play together in the Reds’ attack.
Opportunities to witness the two summer signings in tandem on the pitch have been all too rare, with the Sweden international needing a few weeks to get up to speed after his £125m arrival from Newcastle and then suffering a fibula fracture just before Christmas.
Luckily, the Frenchman has more than stepped up in the 26-year-old’s ongoing absence, with our number 22 taking his goal tally for the season to 15 with a brace against the Magpies last weekend, having also netted in the preceding victory over Qarabag.
With Arne Slot usually naming just one centre-forward in his starting XI, some pundits have questioned whether Isak and Ekitike could work effectively as a duo, or whether they’d be competing for one place in the team.
Ian Doyle: Ekitike and Isak could work as a double act
In a Q&A for the Liverpool Echo, Ian Doyle was asked by one reader if he could envisage the two strikers playing together once the Swede returns from injury.
The journalist replied: ‘Yes. In fact, they already have at Eintracht Frankfurt this season when Isak had to go off injured at half-time.
‘Ekitike has shown himself capable of playing in a number of positions along the forward line and works well with another player alongside him. Liverpool hope the more options the better in attack, and pairing Isak with Ekitike is most definitely one of them.’
Slot has shown a willingness to play with two up top for Liverpool
As Doyle correctly stated, the two summer signings have started together on a couple of occasions in the Champions League – the 5-1 thumping of Eintracht and the 1-0 win away to Inter Milan in December.
Slot also went with two players up top when deploying a ‘box midfield’ setup in the recent games against Marseille and Bournemouth, so the Liverpool head coach has shown a willingness to go with a double act at the apex of attack rather than a sole centre-forward.
Ekitike is effectively guaranteed a starting berth on current form, and although Isak may need to be reintroduced gently once he’s back after injury, the Reds boss will surely want to get the 26-year-old out on the pitch and into a rhythm after spending a club-record fee on him.
In reality, it probably won’t be until early April that we potentially get to see both strikers starting as a pair, with the Swede currently projected to be out until 21 March – the final weekend of club action prior to the spring international window – according to Premier Injuries.
In the meantime we’re all keeping our fingers crossed that the red-hot Frenchman will avoid any body blows of his own and can maintain his goalscoring consistency.
Should he manage that and Liverpool remain firmly in the race for a Champions League finish (as well as progressing through this season’s edition of the tournament), the prospect of an Ekitike-Isak pairing up front could provide the Reds with a lethal cutting edge when the stakes are truly raised at the business end of the campaign!
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