After Liverpool star questioned his future last week, he was back with a bang and a record assist in win over Brighton
Arne Slot’s Liverpool made it back-to-back wins for the first time after six games in all competitions, winning 2-0 against Brighton & Hove Albion, but the big story of the day was Mohamed Salah, who capped off a rollercoaster week by returning to action with a record-breaking assist.
Hugo Ekitike’s brace helped Liverpool tame the Seagulls, with the Frenchman notching goals number six and seven in the Premier League, behind only Igor Thiago of Brentford and Erling Haaland in the goal rankings.
But most eyes were on Salah’s reintroduction to action. Slot had said in his press conference yesterday that he needed to chat with Salah before deciding if he would be involved.
Whatever was said on Friday, it was enough to bring the Egyptian back to the bench he had occupied for the previous three Premier League matches before he was omitted from the UEFA Champions League squad’s trip to Internazionale Milano for his post-match comments at Leeds United last week.
“For me, the situation when I spoke to him yesterday and for him being on the bench and coming off as the first substitution – that means it has settled down,” Slot said after today’s win.
“But if the outside world wants to keep talking about it or there are other reasons people keep talking about it, that’s fine with me. The conversation yesterday and the actions of today that he and I did speaks for itself.”
Watch: What Slot’s post-match comments on Salah
It was interesting Salah was the player called upon by Slot after only 24 minutes, following an injury to Joe Gomez. Dominik Szoboszlai, who had been given the nod on Salah’s favoured right flank from the start by Slot, was moved to right-back, paving the way for Salah’s return to his traditional position.
Assisting Ekitike’s second goal on the hour, Salah recorded his 277th direct goal involvement for Liverpool, overtaking Wayne Rooney (276) for the most direct goal involvements for a Premier League club.
Salah makes history on return
Back at his favoured spot, Salah looked bright in the first half, dovetailing nicely with the rest of Liverpool’s attack, including Ekitike and Florian Wirtz. The trio looking especially dangerous when breaking into space behind Brighton lines.
Just moments after his return to action, he almost created a goal for the Reds. With Alexis Mac Allister breaking into his former team’s penalty area and latching on to a well-weighted pass from Salah.
Though instead of taking the shot himself, Mac Allister chose to lay it off to Ekitike, who failed to convert, with Bart Verbruggen alert to the threat.
Salah’s biggest chance to score came just before his assist. With Liverpool on the break once again, the Egyptian led the move, linking nicely with Ekitike for almost the perfect one-two move.
The Frenchman only slightly mistimed the pass back to Salah, with the resulting shot leading to the corner which got the goal.
This time, it was Salah’s turn to try and return the favour to Ekitike and he duly delivered. A well-placed corner swinging towards the unmarked Frenchman, who had the simple task of nodding it past Verbruggen.
Ekitike had only kind words for his team-mate after the game.
‘I look to Salah as an example’
“Mohamed is a great, great professional,” he said. “I look to him as an example. You can see how much he is involved in goals and assists. He is a legend here. To share the pitch is a blessing. That’s the kind of player who makes us like to watch football.”
With that assist, Salah also has 280 goal involvements in the Premier League, moving him into third alone behind Alan Shearer with 324 and Rooney with 311. Yet another mark for the record-breaking forward.
For all the uncertainty this past week has brought for Salah, that assist and a goal involvement certainly felt like a return to the norm.
That being said, the second half brought several chances for him to boost that tally, but they were not taken. Blazing wide from a Federico Chiesa pass in the closing stages and also overplaying a through-ball moments after which could have made it 3-0.
Perhaps these showed Slot’s decision to bench him from the start may be justified after all, with Salah showing room for improvement which will come with better match rhythm in his boots. Sadly for Liverpool, he will now get that rhythm with Egypt as he heads to Morocco for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) for up to the next four weeks.
“I think he was a threat,” Slot said. “The first ball he touched, he almost made an assist for Mac Allister. He was constantly involved in the fact we had Mo. Pleasing to see but not a surprise.
“It was an easy decision to put him in the squad. I have said many times before what has been said between us will stay between us. We needed him and he assisted to the 2-0 which is nice for us.”
Ekitike going from strength to strength
Salah took a lot of the spotlight from Ekitike, whose reputation in Merseyside is only growing.
Ekitike excelled against the Brighton back line, running the channels, dropping off when necessary and proving to be a constant nuisance for Fabian Hurzeler’s side.
It was another good day at the office for the Frenchman, who became the first player not named Salah to score 10 goals in all competitions in a season since Sadio Mane did so in 2019/20.
Furthermore, he’s the first centre-forward to score double figures for the Reds since Daniel Sturridge way back in the 2013/14 season.
“I was looking for the hat-trick but it is going to be another time. It was good, two goals,” said a content Ekitike after the game.
“We try to stick together and work together. Today wasn’t easy. We had to stay compact and stick together. I think we deserved it. We did a great week and let’s continue.”
Wirtz offers encouraging display
Though he did not score today, Wirtz also came away with a solid performance, making himself a handful off the ball and rarely giving it away.
It was another encouraging display for the German, as he awaits his first Premier League goal, after winning possession nine times and managing eight touches in the opposition box.
With Salah now preparing for AFCON duty, Slot will no doubt lean on the likes of Wirtz and the rest of his summer attacking recruits to help the club through a testing spell of games coming up.
Liverpool travel to Tottenham Hotspur next and will also face Fulham and Arsenal in the space of four days in early January as they find themselves challenging for European spots and beyond again.