Mohamed Salah returns from the bench as Hugo Ekitike scores twice for Liverpool
By Carl Markham, Press Association
Hugo Ekitike scored both goals – including the fastest of the Premier League season – as Mohamed Salah made an earlier-than-expected return in Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over Brighton at Anfield.
The cameramen barely had time to shift their focus off Salah, back in the squad after being dropped for his explosive comments about being “thrown under the bus” by the club, when Ekitike struck after just 46 seconds.
Salah held talks with Arne Slot on Friday after his midweek Champions League omission and would have expected to wait until the second half for a chance to redeem himself – at least in most observers’ eyes.
But Joe Gomez’s injury released him from the bench, where he was for his fourth successive match sharing the occasional joke with Andy Robertson, midway through the first half.
It was not the change Slot wanted to make with the game still evenly poised, but one he could not avoid without creating more headlines.
However, set-piece coach Aaron Briggs gave the instructions as Slot was in conversation with Dominik Szoboszlai, his new right-back.
Salah’s immediately combined with Alexis Mac Allister to almost set up Ekitike, and the Kop broke into Salah’s song before he was involved again as Ekitike volleyed wide.
Liverpool’s 4-2-3-1 formation, with Florian Wirtz playing off the left, does not suit Salah due to the additional work-rate required but when from a Brighton counter-attack, Szoboszlai made the lung-busting run to snuff out the danger Salah was not far behind in the tracking-back stakes.
And after the Egypt international forced Bart Verbruggen into his first save of the second half at the expense of a corner and the unmarked Ekitike headed home the chant for the Frenchman was quickly replaced with a louder one for Salah, closely followed by another for Slot.
Last weekend Salah, now destined for the Africa Cup of Nations, had suggested this could be his last match but talks will continue between the club and his representatives in an attempt to resolve the situation.
He finished the game paired with Alexander Isak, the British record-signing bought to eventually replace his weight of goals, but – perhaps symptomatic of his season – missed his moment by firing over Federico Chiesa’s cross in added time.
Salah applauded all four sides at the final whistle, lingering in front of the Kop as they sang his praise, and fans will hope this is au revoir and not farewell.
Amid the Salah circus it was easy to forget the improvement in the Liverpool’s performance, their third win in five unbeaten, and the growing prowess of Ekitike.
His first-minute goal, taking a touch before unleashing a shot which was still rising as it hit the roof of the net, came as a result of Yankuba Minteh’s risky cross-field clearance headed down by Joe Gomez.
Minteh and Diego Gomez both had chances to equalise but the first half was controlled by Liverpool, aided by the growing understanding between Wirtz and Mac Allister.
Ekitike continued to pose a threat in the second half but could not find a finish to match the quality of his driving run, although Brighton were becoming more dangerous with Diego Gomez hitting Alisson’s right-hand upright and Brajan Gruda dragging wide.
After Ekitike fired over when Mac Allister released Salah the Egyptian took matters into his own hands with the shot which led to the Frenchman’s second goal.
