Rio Ngumoha showing 'superstar' potential for Liverpool and making more dribbles than Jeremy Doku - The Radar

Welcome to The Radar, a Sky Sports column in which Nick Wright uses a blend of data and opinion to shed light on need-to-know Premier League stories. This week:

🔺Ngumoha's stunning stats
🔺Vuskovic's key role for Brighton
🔺A player to watch this weekend

Ngumoha's one-vs-one brilliance

A seat in the Gtech Community Stadium press box last weekend offered a close-up view of Rio Ngumoha's game-changing talent. The 18-year-old played at a different speed to everyone else, a blur of stepovers and bewilderingly quick changes of direction.

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Liverpool were trailing when he was sent on early in the second half for the injured Jeremie Frimpong but ended up claiming a vital win, inspired by the irrepressible skill and drive of a player whose final action was to draw the foul for Vitaly Janelt's red card.

Janelt had little hope of catching him fairly as he tore towards Brentford's box from inside his own half. Three days later, Villarreal couldn't even get close enough to foul him as he followed up his cameo in west London with an electrifying start at Anfield.

Aged 18 years and 52 days old, Ngumoha became the third-youngest player in Champions League history to provide two assists in a single game after Warren Zaire-Emery and Theo Walcott.

Villarreal doubled and even tripled up on him. It wasn't enough. First, he jinked inside and clipped a delicate, diagonal cross straight into the path of Ronald Araujo at the back post. Then, he danced to the byline and put the ball on a plate for Alexis Mac Allister.

Robbie Fowler, a former Liverpool prodigy himself, of course, called it a "statement performance" from the teenager. Daniel Sturridge raved about his "God-given ability". Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher labelled him a "future superstar".

His total of nine successful dribbles in the game took him to 18 in total in this season's Champions League, putting him six clear of Barcelona's Lamine Yamal, the next player on the list.

His one-on-one ability has been evident since his arrival on the scene last season, when he marked his Premier League debut with a stoppage-time winner against Newcastle before making a further 28 appearances in all competitions under Arne Slot.

His development has gathered pace under Andoni Iraola and his numbers have been similarly strong in the Premier League. Since the start of last term, his average of 4.47 successful dribbles per 90 minutes puts him ahead of even Manchester City's Jeremy Doku.

He is something of an outlier in terms of his efficiency.

Ngumoha's dribble success rate of 66 per cent since the start of last season puts him comfortably ahead of any of the other 150 players to have attempted at least 35 in the same timeframe.

Doku's success rate, to continue the comparison, is 52 per cent. The average among the same group of players is 42 per cent.

Ngumoha has played considerably fewer minutes than most of those players. His efficiency will be tested over a longer period.

But right now he looks unplayable. Across his last three appearances, he has completed a remarkable 19 out of 22 attempted dribbles.

It is all the more impressive given he has done it in a supposedly unfamiliar position. Ngumoha has played the majority of his minutes on the left since his Liverpool breakthrough but Iraola has moved him into the problematic right-wing role.

Liverpool are lighter on that side following Mohamed Salah's exit, with Bradley Barcola and Cody Gakpo better off the left. But Victor Munoz's injury may open the door for Ngumoha to make his first Premier League start of the season against Brighton on the right.

Carragher hopes it is just the start for him. "I hope he signs a new contract because right now, we've got a lot of wingers in the team, but he could be the best winger Liverpool have got," the Sky Sports pundit added after the Villarreal game.

"Liverpool have got a problem position on the right wing. We've got a lot of left wingers. Rio might be better on the left, but he was outstanding on the right tonight."

Iraola agreed, albeit while offering constructive criticism. "He struggled defensively in the first half," he said, before praising his attitude. "That's the good thing with Rio, he's still 18, he's not the full package and he can add things."

Iraola highlighted his left-footed shooting as one area of development and there has also been praise for his work in small pockets of space on the inside, where he offers vision and guile in addition to the outstanding dribbling ability shown on the outside.

Recent evidence suggests Brighton's toughest task at Anfield on Sunday might be finding a way to stop him.

Vuskovic impressing for Brighton

One of the Brighton players tasked with stopping Ngumoha and Liverpool will be Luka Vuskovic. The 19-year-old centre-back, a club-record £50m signing from Spurs in July, has played an important role for Fabian Hurzeler's side at both ends of the pitch.

It is rare for a player of his age to be starting at centre-back in the Premier League but he has found his feet rapidly after spending last season on loan at Hamburg from Spurs. "What he has is the physicality to adapt quickly," said Hurzeler last month.

Those physical strengths can be seen in the numbers. Only two players have won more aerials or made more headed clearances. Vuskovic also ranks highly for duels won. His presence has helped Brighton keep four consecutive Premier League clean sheets.

The Seagulls have earned more plaudits for their attacking displays, though, having scored 23 goals in seven games, and Vuskovic has played his part on that front, too. Brighton's total includes eight goals from set-pieces. Vuskovic has added a new threat.

The Croatia scored a back-post header from a corner against Leeds in September. A similar effort against Crystal Palace last weekend allowed Jack Hinshelwood to score Brighton's fifth after it was parried back into the six-yard box by Walter Benitez.

Vuskovic's total of 13 shots is the most by any defender in the Premier League. It is a continuation of his efforts at Hamburg, where he racked up six Bundesliga goals in 28 appearances.

Player Radar: Who else to keep an eye on

Bournemouth have started winning games and keeping clean sheets thanks in part to summer signing Antonio Silva. Manchester United, their opponent on Sunday, could use centre-back like him.

Live Radar: What's on Sky this weekend?

Five Premier League games are live on Sky Sports this weekend, starting with Chelsea vs Spurs on Saturday, kicking off at 5.30pm.

On Super Sunday, Crystal Palace vs Newcastle United, Hull City vs Brentford and Liverpool vs Brighton and Manchester United vs Bournemouth are all available to watch at 2pm. The action continues at 4.30pm, when Sunderland host Leeds United.

Read last week's Radar column

Aston Villa's Johan Manzambi was the focus of last week's column, then went and scored the winner against Newcastle. Brentford's Vitaly Janelt also featured. There was also a mention of some encouraging signs for Alvaro Arbeloa, who finally got a first Fulham win against Hull.

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