Darwin Nunez broke Premier League record that stood for over 20 years during Liverpool vs Chelsea

Liverpool star Darwin Nunez made Premier League history during his side's 4-1 win over Chelsea on Wednesday evening.

The Uruguay forward notched his 11th assist of the season in all competitions during the victory, with Luis Diaz firing his low cross into the bottom corner.

He also has 11 goals to his name in what has been an impressive and perhaps underrated season for the Reds so far to date.

In his second season at the club, Nunez is certainly showing, with his all-round play, direct running and physical ability, exactly why Liverpool shelled out a club-record fee of £85 million to sign him from Benfica in the summer of 2022.

While Nunez didn't get on the scoresheet against Chelsea, he did pretty much everything but find the back of the net.

In the first half, the 23-year-old took a Liverpool penalty after Diogo Jota was fouled by Benoit Badashile in the area.

But his effort smashed against the left post before Chelsea then cleared, with the forward left cursing his misfortune once again.

To make matters worse for Nunez, he then hit a combination of crossbar and post on a further three occasions during the match - all without finding the back of the net.

OptaJoe have since confirmed that the forward set a Premier League record - becoming the first player to hit the woodwork on four separate occasions in a single match since records began in the 2003/04 season.

4 - Darwin Núñez has now become the first player on record (since 2003-04) to hit the woodwork four times in a single Premier League match. Carpenter. #LIVCHE https://t.co/PGOjrQOUXh

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 31, 2024

The second player to record the unfortunate feat was Cristiano Ronaldo, who hit the woodwork three times in the same match for Manchester United against Newcastle in October 2006.

The first to achieve that feat was, in fact, Bolton legend Jay-Jay Okocha, who also smashed the woodwork on three occasions against Tottenham in November 2003.

Leandro Trossard and Timo Werner are among the players to have matched that statistic since, but Nunez has now gone one further and finally beaten it.

And to compound the misery for Nunez, he has hit the woodwork nine times in all Premier League matches this season. That's three times more than the second-placed group of players, which includes his Liverpool team-mate Trent Alexander-Arnold, Newcastle's Anthony Gordon and Bournemouth's Dominic Solanke.

Given that the Uruguayan is playing such a key role in Liverpool's side this season, though, it is not a stat that will worry manager Jurgen Klopp too much - even if it may annoy the man himself in his quest to win this season's Golden Boot.