Liverpool have been warned about the “worrying thing” about Darwin Nunez after Mohamed Salah returned to his best against Man City over the weekend.
The Reds put in their best performance of the season against Man City at Anfield on Sunday afternoon.
Jurgen Klopp’s side defended valiantly as they got the better of Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and co.
Salah was also in inspired form and he scored what proved to be the winning goal towards the end of the second half.
Before this win, Paul Merson claimed that Jurgen Klopp “didn’t foresee” Nunez’s arrival being an issue for Salah.
Nunez started the game against Man City on the bench but he came on for the final stretch. He could have played in Salah to score Liverpool’s second but he went alone and shot wide.
In the aftermath, Gary Neville suggested that Nunez is still “raw” and Merson noticed a “worrying thing” about his performance.
“Liverpool seem to be back at their best. They worked their socks off against Manchester City, and that game would’ve taken a lot out of them,” Merson told Sportskeeda.
“This is going to be a hard match. If they win, they’ve secured back-to-back victories and are back in the top-four race.
“I did tell you that Mohamed Salah was going to be a better player with Firmino in the team, didn’t I? How many runs did make from the outside to the inside yesterday? It worked a treat.
“Look at Virgil van Dijk yesterday – he’s back to being an absolute Rolls Royce. He was up against the best centre-forward in the world yesterday and was outstanding at the highest level.
“When Darwin Nunez came on, the worrying thing was that he didn’t pass the ball to Salah. It’s even more worrying that he didn’t even spot Salah’s run.
“They might play Carvalho or Harvey Elliott further up the pitch this week. With West Ham’s injuries at the back, this might be a good time to help Nunez with his game. With him on the pitch, however, you won’t get the best out of Salah.”
Merson went onto predict that Liverpool will win 2-1 against West Ham on Wednesday night. He thinks the hosts will earn all three points if they “turn up”.
“If you watched Liverpool play yesterday, you can’t explain why they haven’t played like that every week. If they were consistent, they’d be second in the Premier League table,” Merson continued.
“The fans at Anfield were unbelievable. You’ve got to ask the players how they can put in a performance like that and then not show up in their other games this season.
“This should be a good Premier League match. West Ham are not playing well at the moment and their season has been a bit stop-start so far. They do have the ammunition to hurt Liverpool and could make this a hard game. If Liverpool turn up, however, I’d back them to win this game.”
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