Liverpool are set for their third game in eight days on Saturday as they take on Bournemouth in the Premier League.
The Reds need to bounce back domestically after a poor result and performance last time out against Nottingham Forest.
Back at Anfield once again, nothing but a win will do for Liverpool as they look to capitalise on Man City facing Arsenal on Sunday.
With another game also arriving in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, Arne Slot may need to start thinking about how he can rotate his Liverpool squad.
Slot has so far suggested that he’s keen to lean on the same group of players but is going to have to revise that as the Reds enter a busy period.
One player who the Liverpool head coach has frozen out a little up to this point has been Darwin Nunez. And speaking to the press on Friday, Slot addressed that point.
Arne Slot predicts Darwin Nunez chance
After a poor end to the season in which he didn’t score over his final 10 appearances for Liverpool, Nunez has struggled to get going under Slot.
Arriving late into pre-season after a busy Copa America didn’t help Liverpool’s No.9 and he has been playing second-fiddle to Diogo Jota ever since.
In fairness, the Uruguayan has played a part in four of the Reds’ five games so far. But those appearances amount to just 82 minutes spent on the pitch.
Unsurprisingly, Nunez has not been able to contribute in terms of the Liverpool attack in that time and is yet to register either a goal or an assist.
READ MORE: Arne Slot says Liverpool have a big new injury problem ahead of playing Bournemouth
Despite having made his 100th appearance for the Reds off the bench in Milan on Tuesday, there is still a feeling that Nunez is yet to really show his best at Anfield.
But speaking in his pre-Bournemouth press conference, Slot suggested that as the 25-year-old builds on his fitness and understanding of what is expected of him, he will soon get his chance.
“He will get his chance in the near future, we play a lot of games,” said the Dutchman.
“I think he is fitter and fitter now and understands day by day better what we expect from him. But he’s in competition with Diogo who in my and our opinion has done really well in the last games.”
Will Darwin Nunez start against Bournemouth?
The first chance for Slot to get Darwin out on the pitch comes immediately. Just four days after they travelled to Milan, rotation might be needed on Saturday.
And while Arne was not giving too much away as he spoke with reporters, we actually think Nunez could be in line to play against Bournemouth.
Jota has indeed been doing well leading the line for Liverpool, but he did not have a great game against Milan. Steve Nicol claimed that Jota was ‘wasteful’ at San Siro and that was a fair assessment.
As the Portuguese has a patchy injury record, we’d be wary of overplaying him early on in the season and his underwhelming display is the perfect excuse to drop him for Nunez.
Darwin also had a healthy record against the Cherries last season, scoring three times in three games against them. But whether it’s Saturday or not, whenever his chance does come, Nunez has to take it.
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