Liverpool manager Slot credits Ekitike's improved fitness for his scoring streak

Arne Slot feels that Hugo Ekitike's impressive tally of five goals across four games shows the forward has taken his manager's tips on building better stamina to heart.

The 23 year old netted in his initial three outings following his move from Eintracht Frankfurt, yet that feat was partly eclipsed by the high profile £125 million ($169 million) signing of Alexander Isak at Anfield.

Ekitike netted just three times in the subsequent 17 fixtures as the record breaking arrival found it tough to handle the relentless pace of English football.

However, with Isak sidelined by injury for the coming months and Liverpool's Mohamed Salah away at the Africa Cup of Nations, the club from Merseyside is turning to the French player to spearhead their attack.

Slot puts a lot of Ekitike's latest improvements down to enhanced physical shape, though the Dutch coach mentioned he needed to persuade the striker that the extra effort was worthwhile.

"He put in plenty of effort to reach this level of fitness he has now," Slot commented before their home clash with bottom of the table Wolves on Saturday.

"It took some persuasion from me at times that all this training was truly necessary to build strength, but he stuck with it, even if not always happily, and he has trained diligently both during sessions and beyond to get in better shape."

Slot went on: "I have also worked to show him that stronger defending on set pieces boosts your odds of scoring on the break, since holding a 0-0 scoreline makes it simpler to find the net than when you are chasing a 1-0 deficit."

The title holders from Liverpool have gone six matches without defeat across all tournaments, bouncing back from a dismal spell of nine losses in 12 that nearly knocked them out of the championship race this term.

They sit fifth in the standings at present, yet trail Premier League frontrunners Arsenal by 10 points, with Slot insisting the difference in their performances is not as stark as those contrasting stretches imply.

"The key shift, beyond the second half versus Brighton (a 2-0 victory on December 13), is that we have not been giving away as many opportunities as during our previous poor run," he explained.

"I reckon we have had a touch more fortune lately too, since we have dominated several opponents.

"In our most recent outing against Spurs (a 2-1 success last Saturday) we did not create loads more openings than them, and it was level pegging with Brighton too, yet we took the points in both.

"We suffered bad luck with outcomes far too often before, but these last two were fairer contests than the ones we dropped earlier, though I would not claim we did not earn them."