Arne Slot gives Mohamed Salah his backing amid Liverpool forward’s goal drought

By Carl Markham, Press Association

Mohamed Salah is in the worst goalscoring drought of his Premier League career, but head coach Arne Slot is confident it is something he will overcome.

The Egypt international has won the Golden Boot four times since arriving at Anfield in 2017, the latest in last season’s title-winning campaign, but has gone nine league matches without finding the net.

That is his worst run in the English top flight but Slot said while the criticism was to be expected because of the 33-year-old’s high standards it was not a cause for a concern as it was a problem afflicting all his forwards.

“He set his own standards and those are 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,” said Slot.

“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.

“Three games ago he had an assist and a goal against a very good Premier League team in Brighton so that is the reality and then you can change data and say he did not score in nine Premier League games.

“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.

“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 he didn’t score for three or five but I know in the end he always starts scoring again.

“He is not our only attacker at this moment in time that doesn’t score as much as we are used to.

“The focus is totally on him because of everything he did for the club but Hugo and Cody haven’t scored that many goals recently as well. It is a team thing which we have to improve.”