(Video) Arne Slot will have loved what Rio Ngumoha did just before Ryan Gravenberch goal | OneFootball

Ryan Gravenberch fired Liverpool into a very early lead against Chelsea at Anfield this afternoon, and he’ll be the first to acknowledge the excellent work of Rio Ngumoha in supplying the assist.

The 17-year-old came into the Reds’ starting XI for this fixture in place of Florian Wirtz, who misses out due to a stomach bug, and it didn’t take the teenager long to justify his inclusion by Arne Slot.

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The move which led to the goal actually began with a Dominik Szoboszlai free kick from long range which was blocked down by the defensive wall, but the ball was kept alive by the teenage winger.

Ngumoha does brilliantly to set up Gravenberch stunner

Ngumoha kept Cole Palmer guessing just outside the penalty area but, rather than charging past the Chelsea man and going to the byline, he spotted Gravenberch in space to his right and played an inch-perfect pass to the Dutchman, who duly crashed an unstoppable shot beyond Filip Jorgensen.

The sublime finish will rightly catch the eye, but plenty of reporters have also praised the 17-year-old for his involvement in the goal.

Ally McCoist on TNT Sports lauded the quality of the pass to Liverpool’s number 38, as did Aadam Patel for BBC Sport, and Sky Sports‘ Anton Toloui acknowledged the intelligence of the winger for picking the pass ‘instead of trying to be flashy and get to the byline’.

(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

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Fantastic from Ngumoha, and what a finish from Gravenberch!

Slot will have absolutely loved what Ngumoha did in the lead-up to Gravenberch’s goal, which showed tremendous maturity on the youngster’s part.

He didn’t try to take the glory for himself and jink past Palmer, instead showing awareness of what was around him by picking out the Dutch midfielder with a perfectly executed pass.

A 17-year-old playing at Premier League level could be forgiven for not always making the right decision given their inexperience, but the Liverpool prodigy got it spot-on with his assist for his elder teammate.

That was the standout moment of an excellent first half from Ngumoha, who tormented his former club with his trickery and unpredictability inside the opening 45 minutes.

From what we’ve seen so far in this game, the winger’s stock is set to keep rising and rising as the months progress.

You can view Ngumoha’s assist for Gravenberch’s goal below, via @footballontnt on X: