Mo Salah loves scoring against Manchester United as the Liverpool ace has done more damage to their rivals than any other Premier League player
The last thing Ruben Amorim needs is the sight of Mo Salah going up against his Manchester United side.
That’s because no player in the Premier League era has done more damage to United than Salah. The stats prove that to be the case. In 16 games for Liverpool against their bitter rivals, he has 15 goals.
There’s six assists as well to make it over 20 goal involvements. United are vulnerable and 14th. Salah has taken them apart when they’ve been in much better form. What makes the run even more remarkable is that Salah drew a blank in his first four games against United.
Yet his first ever goal against them became an iconic moment of Liverpool’s first Premier League title success and their first English league crown back in 2020. Not long before the world shut down because of a Covid pandemic, Salah raced through late on against the then Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United and caught up with an Alisson long kick to catch the Anfield visitors on the counter.
The Egyptian ace netted, whipped his top off and the Kop was in a frenzy as they sang about winning the league for the first time. It was symbolic as the Reds moved 16 points clear in January. That was a more even affair than many are expecting on Sunday so it may not be as feverish if the Reds repeat another victory over this United side.
But it will still be a huge moment in this season’s title race as another significant hurdle will be cleared and the likes of Arsenal still at arm’s length. Since that 2020 goal, Salah has scored in all but two games against United. Both of those were goalless draws coincidentally.
Maybe most notably the hat-trick at Old Trafford in 2021 as he became the first Premier League player to score three in one game on United’s home turf. Then there was the brace in the 7-0 destruction of Erik ten Hag’s then very much in-form United which sent shockwaves down the M62.
Earlier this season, Salah delivered a masterful display at Old Trafford to score and bag two assists. He walked around United’s stadium in his bare feet afterwards. He felt so at home.
Now he comes up against a United side struggling for confidence after three Premier League defeats in a row and he is, even at 32, in some of the best form of his career with 20 goals and 17 assists so far this term. It has led to questions if he is the best player in the world at the moment.
“It’s difficult to compare players,” said Reds boss Arne Slot. “If I only look at my own team, not other teams, but Virgil [van Dijk] also has an outstanding season but he doesn’t have the numbers like Mo because he’s a defender! It’s difficult to judge players in different positions.
“The numbers Mo has at the moment speaks for itself. Mostly when we talk about the best players in the world, we talk about attackers. It’s been for a long time [Lionel] Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo who we’ve spoke about.
“If you then simply look at the numbers and the way he is playing and the work-rate he has for the team, he is definitely a great, great player.”
Salah will be licking his lips at the thought of taking on this confidence-starved and out of sorts United team. If he delivers a moment like that goal in 2020 then it will only add to his growing legacy at Anfield. The ultimate thorn in this United side.
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