Mohamed Salah: Is Liverpool forward in a slump in form ahead of Man City clash?
Man City & Liverpool are separated by one point at the top of the Premier League table; Sunday's huge clash is live on Sky Sports from 4pm with kick-off at 4.30pm; Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Roy Keane & Micah Richards are in studio as part of bumper line-up
Saturday 9 April 2022 13:37, UK
Mohamed Salah has not scored for Liverpool in open play since February - should Jurgen Klopp be concerned with the Egypt forward's form ahead of the club's season-defining trip to Man City on Sunday?
Liverpool trail the Premier League champions by just a point with now only eight fixtures left this season, starting with this weekend's potential title decider at the Etihad.
However, the Reds travel to Eastlands with question marks hanging over Salah, who despite topping the Premier League scoring charts, having netted 20 times in 28 games so far this season, has nonetheless looked jaded and off colour in recent weeks.
Salah has still to agree a new contract at Anfield, even though his current deal runs out in the summer of 2023, while he also recently suffered the double heartbreak of his country losing the final of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCONs) on penalties to Senegal and then failing to qualify for this year's World Cup.
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All of which has led to much uncertainty of late regarding Salah's future on Merseyside and, combined with a relative loss of form in front of goal, means all eyes will be on the player on Super Sunday.
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So, should Liverpool fans be worried?
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Has Salah really lost his attacking edge?
When Salah waltzed through Chelsea's normally impregnable back-line to score yet another Goal of the Season contender at Stamford Bridge at the turn of the year, there were few forwards in world football who could reasonably claim to be his equal.
The 29-year-old had enjoyed a spectacular first half to the season, becoming the first Liverpool player to find the net 10 games in a row when scoring a hat-trick in his side's 5-0 romp at Manchester United in October.
Salah also brought up his century of league goals for the Reds, doing so in fewer games - 151 - than any other player at the club as he headed off to the AFCONs in early January in rude health.
However, since returning from the tournament at the start of February, it has all seemed a bit of a struggle for Salah, who did score five goals in 10 games heading into March's international break - but three of those were penalties, while, incredibly, the normally razor-sharp frontman has not found the back of the net in open play since Liverpool beat Norwich on February 19.
Not only that, but Klopp has also hooked his star man after 69 and 61 minutes in each of Liverpool's last two matches against Watford and Benfica respectively, when his usually immaculate first touch was anything but.
Klopp, though, is adamant there is nothing to worry about with Salah, who is just going through a blip after an arduous recent workload for both club and country,
"He might not have scored from open play or whatever, maybe a penalty here or there, that's not too important," Klopp said recently when quizzed about Salah's form.
"The performance level is important for me, the threat he is for other teams. How he brings players together in moments when he gets the ball, maybe two or three players are going for him in these moments.
"Sometimes he could decide in a better way, no doubt about that, pass the ball quicker and all these things. But it's a tough period for Sadio (Mane) and Mo, with the Africa Cup and coming back being immediately available for us again with all the games."
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Mr Durable
One thing that cannot be denied, though, is Salah does have a lot of miles in his legs at this stage of the season.
The forward, who is rarely injured, has played in 28 of Liverpool's 30 Premier League games so far this season, while he has also featured in all nine of their Champions League ties, as well as their League Cup final win over Chelsea, totalling 3,156 minutes.
However, that does not take into account his appearances for Egypt, who he has represented in both AFCON games and World Cup qualifiers this year.
In fact, Salah has been involved in games for Liverpool and Egypt that have gone to extra-time on six occasions already in 2022, which surely goes some way in explaining his slightly leggy appearance of late.
Salah in stats - what do the numbers say?
Analysis by Sky Sports data journalist Adam Smith:
Pinpointing Liverpool's resurgence is often narrowed down to the arrival of Klopp and the signings of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson, but there is also a case for Salah. Joining the Reds for £39.5m in the summer of 2017, they proceeded to secure a second-successive top-four finish and reached the Champions League final that season.
Since making his debut for the club, Salah has scored 115 Premier League goals - some 15 more than runner-up Harry Kane. Meanwhile, only three players have carved more assists: Kevin De Bruyne and team-mates Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson, who also became first-team regulars during Salah's maiden campaign at Anfield.
The Egyptian continues to dominate the charts, too. This season, Salah leads the way once again with 20 league goals and is merely one shy of Alexander-Arnold atop the assist rankings.
What makes his returns even more special is how they have been achieved by a player primarily stationed down the right flank. The 29-year-old has effectively coined the titular title for a modern inverted forward: the Salah role.
Salah is notoriously robust and has only missed a starting berth on 18 occasions out of a possible 182 Premier League games since joining the club. This term, commitments with Egypt at the AFCONs mean he has now started 35 games for club and country in all competitions, and there has been a drop-off.
Salah was averaging at 0.71 non-penalty goals per game until early December but that ratio has slumped threefold to just 0.21 since. An identical decline applies to assists. However, his expected returns in both these metrics have remained constant or actually improved, suggesting his clinical edge has waned since the festive period.
Salah's rolling five-game average for non-penalty goals per game has hit rock-bottom for the first time this season, but a blip is hardly cause for concern after such a blistering start to the campaign and you would not bet against him returning to form at the Etihad this weekend.
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Can Klopp afford to rest Salah against City?
All of which means Klopp now has a huge dilemma for Sunday's showdown at the Etihad - stick with his misfiring forward, or bench him and go with his more in-form frontmen?
Former Liverpool striker John Aldridge thinks Salah should start the game on the bench.
"If you're going by form, Mo wouldn't get in the team," he told Sky Sports.
"As good as he is, as great as he is, as much as we love him, on present form he's struggling.
"People might say he's had his head turned but his contract situation doesn't help. He hasn't scored from open play for six weeks and he's just not himself on the pitch.
"I don't know why that reason is but come Sunday if he's on the pitch, we need him like never before. It's the biggest game of the season by far. We need him to be at his best on Sunday."
Klopp does now have more attacking options at his disposal following the additions of Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz, meaning he could feasibly start Sunday's title decider without the top scorer in the Premier League, although it would still represent a massive gamble on his part.
Carra: A toss-up between Salah and Mbappe
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher thinks Salah and Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe are currently the best two players in the world:
"I think the toss-up for me would be between Mohamed Salah and Kylian Mbappe," he said. "They would be the two who would split people now in the way Messi and Ronaldo have split people for so many years.
"But I think the season Salah is having, and the numbers he's got compared to anyone else in the Premier League, which is the best league in the world right now, just shows how far ahead of everybody else in the Premier League he is."
Liverpool's fixture schedule:
April 10 - Man City (a) Premier League, live on Sky Sports
April 13 - Benfica (h) Champions League QF second leg
April 16/17 - Man City (Wembley) FA Cup semi-finals
April 19 - Man United (h) Premier League, live on Sky Sports
April 24 - Everton (h) Premier League, live on Sky Sports
April 26/27 - Villarreal/Bayern Munich Champions League SF first leg *
April 30 - Newcastle (a) Premier League
May 3/4 - Villarreal/Bayern Munich Champions League SF second leg *
May 7 - Tottenham (h) Premier League
May 10 - Aston Villa (a) Premier League, live on Sky Sports
May 14 - FA Cup final *
May 15 - Southampton (a) Premier League, live on Sky Sports
May 22 - Wolves (h) Premier League
May 28 - Champions League final *
* Subject to progress
