Nunez on an interview said ‘Liverpool can’t afford to relax’ after Manchester United defeat as they work towards their next game.
Darwin Nunez says Liverpool “can’t afford to relax” after their 7-0 win against Manchester United, and must attack “like lions” next game against Bournemouth.
Jurgen Klopp’s men have had a turbulent season, but a recent resurgence saw them beat their old rivals at Anfield last week to put them back in the running for the Premier League’s top four.
Nunez has scored 14 goals and made four assists in 31 appearances for Liverpool since his move from Benfica last year, including a brace in Sunday’s win against United.
Liverpool travel to Bournemouth on Saturday after beating the Cherries 9-0 at Anfield earlier this season, but the Uruguayan forward knows they cannot be underestimated.
“We can’t afford to relax now just because we beat Manchester United 7-0,” he told Liverpool’s official website. “We have to approach this match with the same mentality and the same will to win to bring home the three points, and that’s what we want to continue to do in the standings.
“In the first game [of this season] against [Bournemouth] we beat them 9-0 if I’m not mistaken, but this is a different game now. We have to go there and try to beat them again.
“It’s like with Manchester United, they beat us [2-1 at Old Trafford], but then it was a different game and we managed to score seven goals. This is football – things can change.” We have to go out there and be strong with the same positive mentality.”
In August’s 9-0 game, Bournemouth sacked Scott Parker, who has since been replaced by Gary O’Neil, and Nunez was impressed with his performance in last Saturday’s 3-2 loss to leaders Arsenal.
“They come into this game in decent form and you can see the changes they’ve made in their performance,” he said. “They put in a great performance against Arsenal, for example, and were unlucky to concede at the last minute – but that’s football for you.
“Now we have to go play them and go there with a positive attitude, not relax for a minute and go like lions from the first second.”
Nunez has slowly developed a partnership with Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo since joining at the end of last season and Gakpos in January, with the trio scoring six of his seven goals against United (two each).
“Salah is just something completely different – he’s an absolute star,” Nunez said of the Egyptian. “And Gakpo, he came here when we weren’t at our best and he also had to adapt. It took us some time to train together and now you can see that we are developing a better understanding.
“I hope it continues and the forwards can bring a lot of joy to the fans because they deserve it.”
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