Mohamed Salah has been previewing Liverpool’s Premier League top of the table clash with Man City.
Mohamed Salah has declared himself ‘ready’ to face Manchester City in what he admits will be a ‘decisive’ game in Liverpool’s Premier League title challenge.
The Egyptian has made just two substitute appearances for Liverpool since New Year’s Day after suffering a hamstring injury at the Africa Cup of Nations. But he’s determined to step up his return and make an impact against City at Anfield on Sunday as he chases down a second Premier League title win.
“Good, good. Much better now, played last game,” he told Sky Sports, when asked by Reds legend Jamie Carragher how he was doing injury-wise. “Few minutes so yeah, ready.
“I feel myself in the big games. I just want to play and enjoy. You usually have just one defender against you, not two or three. The game is open. I love this kind of game, I just feel myself. I feel in the big games, the big players have to step up and show their quality.”
The Reds have been top of the table since Boxing Day, and currently boast a one-point lead over the reigning champions. However, with Arsenal looking to overtake both sides this weekend, their advantage is very much at risk.
“(These are) decisive games, if I’m being honest,” Salah continued. “(There’s a few years where they won the league with one point. So I think when we lost at the Etihad, that was a game where they won the league.
“Unbelievable team, unbelievable coach. They dominate the league for a few years. We always fight with them.
“We go into the game and you just feel it’s a six points game, not three points game. We have a good chance. We play at home. Everyone will be excited, the atmosphere will be unbelievable as usual. We just need to focus on our game and try to win the game.
“It’s always a decisive game. I think if we win the next game, we have a good chance of winning the title. We need to focus on what we can do and go from there.
“There’s still 11 games. We have really tough games. This game is very important to give you a push, that you won against Man City, and the difference will be three or four points between you, City and Arsenal. But it’s still a long way to go.”
Meanwhile, when asked for his best memory from facing Man City, Salah also described one previous clash with Pep Guardiola’s side as ‘hell’.
“The best memory, the solo-goal at Anfield (in 2021/22),” he said. “That was really good. But the game I will never take away from my mind is the Champions League away game, the 2-1.
“I was talking to Virg (van Dijk) yesterday and was like, ‘I think that is the most difficult game we’ve played at Liverpool’.
“Jesus scored in the first minute. It was quarter-finals of the Champions League, that game was hell, and in the end we managed to win 2-1.”
Liverpool are currently pursuing a possible quadruple, having already won the League Cup last month. Looking to maintain their lead at the top of the table, they also have one foot in the Europa League quarter-finals after thrashing Sparta Prague 5-1 in Czechia last week, and face Manchester United in the FA Cup quarter-finals next weekend.
Their campaign so far is made even more impressive considering their struggles last year as they failed to qualify for the Champions League, their £150m midfield revamp in the summer, and the fact that Klopp’s ranks have regularly been heavily decimated by a crippling injury list, with a number of academy starlets having to step up as a result.
Yet Salah insists he is not surprised by how well Liverpool’s season is going, revealing he became convinced the Reds would win trophies this season after reporting back for pre-season training last summer.
“To be fair, I’m not really surprised,” he said. “I think in the beginning of the season, in the pre-season you could see the quality we have.
“Of course we miss a lot of good players but I can see the players the club bought is unbelievable. They really want to achieve something.
“I could see the quality from the pre-season. I was really, really positive about it and thought we were going to go out and win something.”
