With the Premier League title race really starting to heat up, even in the initial stages, points between rivals are absolutely crucial and Mohamed Salah looked to have wrapped up all three when he put Liverpool ahead against Manchester City at Anfield. Unfortunately, Pep Guardiola’s side clawed their way back into the game, leaving both teams to settle for a point apiece. Considering the game was littered with world class players all over the pitch, it is testament to Salah that his goal was the main talking point.
This is not the first time the Egyptian has scored goals of real importance, having recently notched up a century of strikes in the Premier League. Having one of the best goal-to-game ratios in the club’s history, Salah has hit the back of the net 134 times, transforming Liverpool from an entertaining side for the neutrals to a mainstay in the title race in the football betting with Paddy Power. To celebrate Salah reaching 100 goals in the Premier League, here are five of his best finishes.
Honorable mentions go to Crystal Palace in 2020 and Everton in 2017, which won the Puskas Award but still didn’t manage a place on this list!
Stoke City (2017)
Not many people give this goal the credit it deserved. Away from home in the blustery Stoke wind, the Egyptian trotted off the bench in the seemingly invincible orange away kit and hit a volley worthy of winning any game. The way Salah opened up his body to strike the ball so sweetly was something not many believed he had in his locker based on his Chelsea days.
Watford (2018)
The 2017-18 season saw Salah burst onto the scene and establish himself as a truly world class player. Arriving from AS Roma in the summer, few of the football predictions could have envisioned how good he would truly be, with his third of the day in a 5-0 drubbing against Watford epitomising his superiority in the league. He scored four that evening in snowy Anfield conditions but the third is the pick of the bunch with a trademark dribble to sit down Miguel Britos and then rifle the ball past the helpless Orestis Karnezis.
Man City (2018)
Just a few weeks before he would find the net against Watford, Salah was instrumental in ending Manchester City’s invincible season. In a watershed moment for the league which would begin a rivalry between the two sides, Salah capitalised on a poor clearance from Ederson to chip the ball over the keeper from 30 yards. The goal put the Reds 4-1 up and while City clawed two late goals back it wasn’t enough.
Chelsea (2019)
Having been booed by his former side’s fans in the weeks leading up to the game and hurtful comments made with regards to his religion, it was almost inevitable that Salah would find the back of the net when the two sides met at Anfield in April 2019. With the Reds in their first proper title race for years and needing three points to keep up with City, Sadio Mané had just put his side 1-0 up when a wave of emotion engulfed the whole ground. A loose ball fell to Salah who rocketed it in the top corner, cutting in from 30 yards. As the Kop like to say, poetry in motion.
Tottenham Hotspur (2018)
While this list is centered around the Premier League and we would have loved to included Salah’s penalty against Tottenham Hotspur in the 2019 Champions League final, we’ll have to settle for his individual piece of magic against Spurs when the sides met at Anfield to kick off 2018.
The Reds had been on the back foot for most of the second half and Victor Wanyama looked to have taken all the plaudits when he drew his side level with a thunderbolt from the edge of the box, but it was Salah who once again stole the show. Picking up in the ball in a wide area, he took on two defenders, redolent of a prime Lionel Messi, to slot the ball in at the near post. While Liverpool’s defence and goalkeeper cost them that season, the work Salah did for his side simply cannot be overlooked.
