LONDON — Arne Slot said Darwin Núñez’s knack of scoring vital late goals for Liverpool is “nice to have” after the forward did so again to earn his team a crucial victory over Brentford on Saturday.
Núñez struck twice in added time to secure Liverpool’s 2-0 win in a game that featured 48 shots — an average of more than one every two minutes.
According to ESPN Global Research, Núñez has been directly involved in more goals as a substitute than any other player in the Premier League since arriving in June 2022 (11 — seven goals, four assists), while eight of his 24 league goals have been scored in the last 15 minutes of games.
“He’s always having a lot of impact when he comes in,” Slot told the BBC. “[He] brings energy and power. Most of our games are the last half hour in control around 18 yards, and that’s where he’s at his best.
“The first hour is often open but the last 30 minutes dominant. Then to have someone like Darwin is nice to have.
“I don’t only look at results. We created a lot. But now it’s a win so I don’t have to say look at our performance. I was very pleased with our performance. Brentford made it a fight. They have good players and a good game plan. It was a nice game to watch like every time Liverpool are on the pitch.”
The victory in west London was Liverpool’s first in the league since the turn of the year and staved off talk of a wobble for Slot’s previously all-conquering side following draws with Manchester United and Nottingham Forest and a Carabao Cup semifinal first-leg defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.
Slot admitted that he was not sure his side would find a way to win the hectic contest in west London.
“I had doubts about that because before we scored the two goals, it felt as if I was looking at the same game again and again and again in the same pattern arise,” Slot said.
“So I said it already a few times in other interviews that against United, everybody was focused on the Maguire chance, but the seven minutes before we had three open chances.
“So, so many times in the recent weeks — against Tottenham as well — we missed a lot of chances. Against Forest as well us, we missed a lot. So yeah, it would’ve been a bit surprising if I felt ‘OK after all these chances missed today, we will probably score in the last five minutes,’ but the boys, the players proved me wrong again.”
