Darwin Nunez change explained by Liverpool team-mate as exciting prediction made

Harvey Elliott believes confidence has been the key to Darwin Nunez's recent goal surge and says the Liverpool No.9 is looking like an £85m striker now.

Nunez registered twice in the first half of Thursday's 5-1 Europa League win over Sparta Prague to surpass his tally of last season and move up to 16 for the current campaign - with nine of those goals coming since Boxing Day.

The in-form Uruguay striker is one of the reasons optimism is building at Anfield ahead of today's massive match at home to Manchester City and Elliott says the whole squad are "over the moon" for their colleague.

Nunez is expected to start alongside Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz against City as the Reds aim to open up a four-point gap on the defending champions and title rivals.

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"He is massive for us and not just for the weekend but for any game for Liverpool," Elliott said. "He is a massive player, hence the price tag and why Liverpool brought him in.

"He is an unbelievable talent and he is only going to get better and better. He is showing glimpses of his goalscoring ability and we are all so happy for him. He just needs to keep going, keep the confidence going.

"You know he has always had the skill and the quality, I think just sometimes it was a confidence thing. Now he is showing it. He scored a vital, massive goal at the weekend (against Nottingham Forest) and now he has come up with another great performance and two goals here (in Prague).

"So as I said we are more than happy and we are over the moon for him. He just needs to keep going, keep working hard and we will