Arne Slot hopes Mohamed Salah will stay at Liverpool “for a long time” after the Egyptian scored twice in the thrilling 3-3 draw against Newcastle United.
Liverpool saw their lead at the top of the Premier League cut to seven points as Fabian Schar's 90th-minute equalizer rescued a draw for Newcastle at a gritty St James' Park.
Wins elsewhere for Chelsea and Arsenal helped them close the gap to the top and made it a frustrating outing for Liverpool, although things could have been worse for the Reds had it not been for Salah's performances in front of goal.
Liverpool trailed twice on Tyneside but Salah scored twice and provided an assist for Curtis Jones in the second half.
He has now both scored and assisted in 37 different Premier League matches, overtaking Wayne Rooney (36 times) for the all-time record in the competition.
Salah is also now the top scorer in the Premier League this season with 13 goals, but as he prepares to enter the final six months of his contract, his long-term future at Anfield remains unclear.
The Egyptian suggested his brilliant spell at the club could come to an end in the wake of last week's victory over Manchester City, but Slot is hopeful an agreement can still be reached to keep him on Merseyside.
Speaking to Amazon Prime after Wednesday's match, the Dutchman said: “I have mixed feelings, we were excellent in the second half but we were not good enough in the first half.
“Maybe 3-3 is what the game deserved. They were very aggressive and forced us to make mistakes, but in the second half we were so much better.
“I knew the game could be changed, we were much better with the ball. After the week we had, we were able to change the game, which is very positive. Every time we need Mo Salah he scores a goal. “
“We hope and expect that he can keep this up for a long time. He was excellent in the second half, he did many special things for us.”
Salah has now scored in each of his last seven Premier League appearances, making him only the second player in the competition's history to achieve two separate runs of that length.
Former Manchester United striker and current Leicester City boss Ruud van Nistelrooy previously achieved the feat, as did current Foxes striker Jamie Vardy.
Comments