There won’t be anyone who’d argue Christian Benteke’s debut Liverpool season has been a success.
The £32.5m Belgian is way down Jurgen Klopp’s striker pecking order, with the manager preferring Daniel Sturridge, Divock Origi and even natural attacking midfielder Roberto Firmino up top – with Danny Ings still set to to return from injury.
But Benteke’s now reached double figures for goals following his late equaliser against Chelsea last night, and his effort was typical in that it directly led to points gained.
Having done some quick maths via WhoScored, Benteke’s goals have directly won us 14 points in the Premier League and three points in the Europa League this term.
He’s scored winners against Bournemouth, Sunderland, Leicester, Crystal Palace and now earned us two more points at Anfield yesterday evening.
Not bad for a striker who’s been restricted to 13 Premier League starts and just two in Europe.
In fact, delving a little deeper, it turns out Benteke’s scored a goal every 159.6 minutes for Liverpool, while his Aston Villa ratio was roughly 181 minutes.
Perhaps it’s not so much Benteke’s failings as Liverpool’s filing to get the best out of him. He doesn’t suit our style, and we can think of countless times he’s missed chances when given opportunities, but these goalscoring statistics speak for themselves.