A Liverpool great has urged Arne Slot to consider dropping Mo Salah to allow Hugo Ekitike to start up front alongside Alexander Isak for the Reds, in an exclusive interview with TEAMtalk.

Former Liverpool and England striker Emile Heskey believes that a change of system may be required for the Reds to turn their poor form around, after they’ve lost four games on the bounce.

The 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday has seen them fall to third in the Premier League table – four points adrift of leaders Arsenal.

Salah, 33, is undoubtedly one of Liverpool’s best players in their entire history. However, he has struggled to find his feet this term, scoring only two Premier League goals so far, which falls significantly below his normal standards.

In an exclusive interview with TEAMtalk, in association with Betbrain, Heskey said that playing Ekitike alongside Isak in a two-striker system is an intriguing option for the Reds – but Salah may need to be dropped to make it work.

“Mo Salah’s not doing great,” Heskey said.” So, is he the one who could be sacrificed? Because when you’re playing Mo, he likes to play high and wide, but if you’re playing two up front, that one can’t stay out there, so he needs to really tuck in.

“Mo can’t tuck in. So I think he might be the one [Slot drops] if you’re going to play the two up front, and I think it’ll be interesting to look at the two up front, because I think it looked good.

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“I think we we haven’t seen partnerships for a long time, since probably 2010s, probably 10 or 15 years ago, with proper strikers playing together.

“I think that would look really, really good for Liverpool and interesting.

“It would pose a different solution and a different challenge for opposition defenders, because they’re so used to not marking two strikers now and only having one to deal them.

“If they have two forwards against them, the runs that they make are going to be interesting, because then the defenders will actually have to defend properly.”

Mo Salah needs ‘a bit of a break’ 

Heskey believes a ‘break’ may be required for Salah to regain his hunger. Though it would, of course, be a big call for Slot – who is reportedly under some pressure himself – to relegate him to the bench.

“Salah is a fantastic player, and you can’t take away what he’s done and what he’s doing,” Heskey added.

“The thing for Mo is, if he’s scoring goals, he’s really exciting. If he’s not, it can be a difficult day for him.

“We’ve seen him many times before where he’s scored goals but hasn’t had a good game. Now, when he’s not having a good game and he’s not scoring… He’s not like Sadio Mane, who will give you the work rate, he’ll give you tenacity, he’ll give you fight and hunger. Mo doesn’t work in that same way.

“There needs to be a solution for that, maybe give Mo a little bit of a break to get that hunger back to then come back in and fight and really have a go.

“Because, again, we’ve seen it time and time again, where he’s bailed Liverpool now because how good he is, but at this moment in time, he’s not giving that worth.”

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Latest Liverpool news: ‘Emergency meeting’ / Sale approved

Meanwhile, reports suggest that Liverpool’s hierarchy held an ’emergency board meeting’ to discuss Arne Slot and the team’s poor results of late.

Reports suggest that the club’s American owners are demanding that Slot ‘stabilise’ the club’s performance before the project’s continuity is ‘jeopardised’ – though TEAMtalk sources state that the Dutchman is safe in his job, for now.

In other news, Liverpool are reportedly willing to sell back-up defender Joe Gomez in January, amid interest from AC Milan.

However, his exit hinges on the Merseyside club first bringing in a replacement.

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