Arne Slot backs Mohamed Salah to end drought in Premier League

LONDON: Liverpool head coach Arne Slot is confident that Mohamed Salah will end goal drought in the Premier League soon.

Salah hasn’t scored in the English top flight since a 2-0 victory against Aston Villa in November, and his current nine-game drought is the longest of his stay at Liverpool. He joined the Reds from AS Roma in 2017.

Slot praised Salah’s quality and said he is confident that the Egyptian will be back to his best soon. “He set his own standards and those are so, so, so high and the moment he doesn’t score for a few games people are immediately surprised — that is the biggest compliment he can get,” Slot said.

“With data you can use it to your advantage or disadvantage but not to use the FA Cup game — if we play a Premier League side — you could argue if that is fair. But that’s the way it works: if we want to highlight something really positive we try to forget one or two games and if we want to highlight something negative we can try to forget one or two games as well.

“Three games ago he had an assist and a goal against a very good Premier League team Brighton, so that is the reality, and then you can change data and say he did not score in nine Premier League games. That is the standard he sets for himself and that is why people are surprised when things like that happen.”

Mohamed Salah has been out of form this season and has scored only four goals and assisted six times in the Premier League so far. Arne added that it has happened before as well. Salah had been out of form in the past as well, but he always makes a comeback.

“We are used to Mo scoring a lot of goals and at this moment in time that is maybe the biggest difference in his performance and game time,” he added. “But we also know this has happened before, I don’t know if it happened nine games in a row but I’ve had these questions earlier if didn’t score for three or five but I know in the end he always starts scoring again. That is the challenge he has and we have now to make sure he starts scoring again.” Web Desk