Darwin Nunez has staked a strong claim to start

Following a very good preseason the outlook around Darwin Nunez was very positive as he was preparing to enter his second season at Liverpool. However, the first two matches of the season saw him relegated to brief cameos off the bench.

He was unable to to make anything happen at Chelsea and he had about 5 minutes of action in the 3-1 win over Bournemouth.

Sunday’s big match with Newcastle United saw Darwin once again on the bench. A disastrous opening half hour saw Virgil Van Dijk sent off and an ugly error from Trent Alexander-Arnold for the Magpies opening goal.

Luis Diaz was sacrificed for more defensive stability in the side.  To the players’ credit, the Reds battled and did not let Newcastle run away and hide.

They were able to make a it to the final quarter of the match still just down the solitary goal. Jurgen Klopp introduced Nunez in the 77th minute for Alexis Mac Allister.

It took Darwin all of four minutes to pounce on a few unlucky bounces from the Newcastle defense and burst forward with his typical power.

He slotted the ball across the face of Nick Pope’s goal into the bottom left corner for the equalizer. It was a confident finish from a player that has shown he has all the tools in the bag. His constant willingness to run in behind brings another element to the Liverpool attack that opens things up for others.

The winner, in the 94th minute, came when Mo Salah picked up the ball and Darwin clicked into gear again as he blew past the Magpies defense to latch onto the sublime Salah through ball.

In almost a carbon copy of the first, he unleashed another strike past Pope into the side netting at the far post. This finish was actually a little better as it had more loft and pace on it.

These are the kinds of finishes and moments of brilliance that the Liverpool brass saw in his final season at Benfica. There were flashes during his first season in England last year, but the consistency was not there.

However, based on this stunning performance, it would be criminal to not have Darwin in the Starting XI for the Aston Villa match.

As I said above, his pace and power is unmatched by any of the other Liverpool forwards. He can score in a variety of ways and his constant running would be a nightmare for defenders.

This kind of impact with the end product can prove to be a big confidence boost to players. Rewarding him with a start would only amplify that and I believe it could allow him to really take off.

Goals beget goals for elite strikers. However, they need to be given the best opportunities to bag those goals. Hopefully Jurgen agrees with me and we see Darwin’s name at the top of the team sheet on Sunday.