Forget Gravenberch and Ekitike, 62-touch Liverpool player was at his best vs Everton

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Liverpool continued their perfect start to the new Premier League season after beating Everton 2-1.

Goals from Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike put the champions in cruise control before the break and they held out for a fifth-straight win despite Idrissa Gueye pulling one back.

Arne Slot decided to bench Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, an incredible £240million worth of talent, but his reshuffled side put on another impressive show at Anfield, albeit after a second-half wobble.

Ally McCoist praised Gravenberch’s strike as “magical” and Ekitike will also have rightly stolen the headlines, but one player who went under the radar also deserves some credit.

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Ibrahima Konate was superb for Liverpool against Everton

It hasn’t been the easiest start to the campaign for Liverpool stalwart Ibrahima Konate.

Speculation is continuing to rumble on around the centre-back’s future, with Real Madrid tipped to swoop for him, but he put all that to one side and stood firm alongside Virgil van Dijk against Everton.

Indeed, his statistics in the Merseyside derby made for impressive reading.

Konate made two tackles, one block and no fewer than eight clearances, helping the Reds to repel their opponents as they pushed forward looking for a late equaliser in the second half.

The defender was also imperious in the air, heading away a further seven clearances and winning seven of his eight aerial duels, more than any other player on the pitch.

He was calm on the ball, too, completing 41 of his 49 attempted passes with an 84% success rate.

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Ibrahima Konate praised by Liverpool team-mate

Konate has been just as influential off the pitch, with his team-mate Ekitike, who Stephen Warnock says is getting better and better, singling him out as the player who has helped him adjust the most at Anfield.

“I think the most important person when I came here was Ibou [Konate] to be honest,” said Ekitike. “He’s been in the club for four years, so he knows everything here, he knows the people so he helped me a lot with everything off the pitch and on the pitch.

“The other players helped me more on the pitch, connection, links to find my position here. But Ibou has been really important for me here.

“The other players helped me to settle well in the team, in the training ground. I found my house quickly, so all these things kind of helped me to just think about football and be focused on my job on the pitch. It’s been good.”