Liverpool ‘owe’ Mohamed Salah title push says pundit

Gary Neville feels Liverpool “owe” Mohamed Salah a chance to win the Premier League when he returns from Egypt’s Africa Cup of Nations campaign.

And the Sky Sports expert feels the Reds have a “real chance” of winning the Premier League for the second time under Jurgen Klopp.

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Liverpool ‘owe’ Mohamed Salah title push

Salah scored twice to lead Liverpool to a thrilling 4-2 win over Newcastle United at Anfield on Monday, putting them three points ahead at the top.

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“Before the game we did a piece about Liverpool having three world-class players in Alisson (Becker), (Virgil) Van Dijk and Salah,” Neville said on his own podcast. 

“Van Dijk has been back to his best this past month or two, Liverpool’s defensive record has been good, they’ve kept a lot of clean sheets, and Alisson is the best goalkeeper in the world.

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“And they’ve got someone who hits numbers from a wide area and is so consistent. He delivers year in, year out – it’s unbelievable, really. If they keep those three fit, there’s a massive chance, but with Salah going away for a month, it does damage them.”

Maturing team

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Neville says that Liverpool’s style under Klopp has matured.

“When Jurgen Klopp first came to Liverpool I really liked watching them. They were really frantic, loads of pressing, it was fast, and sometimes you didn’t know quite what was happening – I’m not sure the players on the pitch did. It lacked a little bit of composure, but it was really exciting – heavy metal football he (Klopp) called it when he was at (Borussia) Dortmund. Then it became smooth along with that electricity, they became a wonderful team, going head to head with Man City, they won the Premier League title and the Champions League title.

“Now a lot of those players have left and they’re in a transitional period like they were at the beginning under Klopp with Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz. They’re not polished yet. They’re not at the peak of their careers where you start to make precise decisions.

“There’s an electricity to them but also a frustration that in the final third the last part can go a little bit wrong. You wonder what that’s going to be like without Salah but they owe it to him to get through the next month still in the title race, still at the top of the league and still ahead so they can give Salah a chance to come back and have a real go at the title.”