HARVEY ELLIOTT SETS UNIQUE RECORD IN LANDMARK 100TH LIVERPOOL APPEARANCE
Harvey Elliott marked his 100th game for Liverpool with a goal and a unique record during Wednesday night’s 4-1 victory over Luton Town at Anfield.
With Diogo Jota already ruled out for "months", and both Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah also missing, this meant a start for Elliott on the right side of the Liverpool attack.
As the stats show, the stand-in forward had a busy game and, in the first half in particular, created a number of chances that were wasted by his teammates.
In fact, overall, the 20-year-old created seven chances from open play against the Hatters, according to @OptaAnalyst on X (formerly known as Twitter).
The last time that number was achieved by a player at a younger age was back in October 2008 when Nicklas Bendtner did so for Arsenal in a fixture against West Ham.
But while the Reds couldn’t profit from Elliott’s creativity in the first half, leading to a certain amount of frustration in the Kop, the Reds’ finishing improved after the break.
Captain Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz all scored in the second half before Elliott's hard work on the night eventually paid off in the 90th minute when the ball broke nicely for him to tuck the ball into the top corner for Liverpool’s fourth.
The Reds now have a four-point lead in the race for the Premier League title.
Growing influence
Elliott has been a Red since July 2019, signing from Fulham for an initial £1.5 million fee plus another £2.8m in bonuses.
It was a record fee when it was agreed for the then-16-year-old midfielder, who has increased in importance throughout his seasons at the club.
He suffered a catastrophic ankle break against Leeds United in 2021 but has battled back to become an integral part of Jurgen Klopp’s squad - and is now a centurion to boot.
With a busy schedule over the coming weeks, including a Carabao Cup final against Chelsea on Sunday, Elliott’s game time is only likely to increase over the coming weeks.