No Premier League player has scored more goals this season or racked up more assists than the Egyptian, who is now off to the Ivory Coast
Mohamed Salah took temporary leave of Liverpool in the best possible fashion on New Year's Day, scoring twice in a 4-2 win over Newcastle to propel Jurgen Klopp's team three points clear at the top of the Premier League.
However, it was a bittersweet goodbye, because the Egyptians latest virtuoso display at Anfield also served as a painful reminder of just how much he will be missed on Merseyside over the next few weeks. Salah, remember, has been the outstanding player in the Premier League this season (and ever since his arrival in England in 2016, in fairness). Nobody has scored (14) or created (eight) more goals than the winger.
His importance to Liverpool cannot be overstated, then, so how on earth are they going to cope without him? Is there a real risk of the Reds' campaign unravelling while Salah is at the Africa Cup of Nations? After all, he's certain to miss this weekend's FA Cup trip to Arsenal, the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Fulham and the Premier League meeting with Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium, while if Egypt were to reach the semi-finals in Ivory Coast, the 32-year-old would also be unavailable for massive matches against Chelsea and Arsenal.
Klopp is remaining calm. "It's not the first time," he pointed out ahead of the Newcastle game. "It's obviously a really very average situation when you lose your goalscorer, but we had it even worse in the past when both Mo and Sadio (Mane) left, and we came through it somehow. And traditionally one of them always went pretty far in the tournament, which makes it even worse. But we just have to get through this."
Their hopes of doing so, though, very much hinge upon other players stepping up to the mark over the next few weeks and, right now, some players look better equipped than others to help fill the considerable goalscoring void left behind by Salah…
Getty Darwin Nunez
Salah had Nunez to thank for helping him make amends for a first-half penalty miss against Newcastle. As Klopp pointed out in his post-match press conference, many players would have "tried to hammer the ball through the goalie" after being put in on goal, but the notoriously unpredictable Uruguayan unselfishly squared the ball for his team-mate. It was Nunez's sixth assist of the Premier League season, illustrating his value to the Liverpool attack.
However, Nunez is simply not scoring enough goals. Of every 10 shots he takes, he only puts away one, while he's already squandered 18 'big chances' this term – more than anyone else in England's top-flight. Granted, Erling Haaland ranks second on that particular list, with 17 misses, but the Manchester City striker still has 14 goals to his name. Nunez has five. It's just not good enough for a No.9 at a title-chasing club.
With both Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo fit and starting to fire again, Nunez simply has to start scoring on a consistent basis to not only cushion the blow of losing Salah, but also hold onto his own starting spot.
AdvertisementGettyDiogo Jota
Jota's return from injury could not have come at a better time for Liverpool. Arguably the squad's most complete and efficient finisher (the Portuguese is particularly impressive in the air for a relatively small man, and his shot conversion rate of 26 percent is the highest at the club), he has made a tremendous impact since recovering from the muscular problem that sidelined him for nearly all of December.
He was only on the field for six minutes against Burnley but sealed a 2-0 victory with a well-taken goal in injury-time, before creating one goal for Curtis Jones and then winning a penalty that Salah converted in the win over Newcastle.
Jota's versatility should also make him invaluable in the coming weeks (and months!), as he's capable of playing all across the forward line. If Liverpool manage to keep their title challenge on track during a possibly lengthy Salah absence, chances are Jota will be one of the main reasons why.
GettyCody Gakpo
There was nothing pretty about Gakpo's finish against Newcastle, but it clearly meant the world to the Netherlands international, whose previous goal in the Premier League came in September, when he was forced off with a knee injury shortly after scoring against Tottenham.
Gakpo has slipped down the pecking order since then, but in recent games, he's looked a little more like the classy forward that added a new dimension to Liverpool's attack after joining from PSV last January.
Again, just like Jota, Gakpo is a multi-talented footballer that has even been deployed in midfield this season, so if the mishit that wrong-footed Martin Dubravka has helped alleviate some of the pressure on the Dutchman's shoulders, that would only be good news for Liverpool.
Indeed, with Nunez still struggling to convince, Gakpo has a golden opportunity to prove himself the best option to spearhead Klopp's forward line.
GettyLuis Diaz
Liverpool remain indebted to Luis Diaz for coming off the bench to score a late leveller at Luton at a time when the winger's father was still being held hostage by guerillas in Colombia. How he managed to keep it together – let alone play football – during that living nightmare is anyone's guess.
The trauma understandably took a heavy toll on Diaz, who hasn't scored in the league since that emotional equaliser at Kenilworth Road and has been in and out of the starting line-up in recent games, with Nunez sometimes preferred to him on the left flank.
However, he produced a lovely back-heeled assist for Jota at Burnley and had a well-taken goal ruled out for a marginal Nunez offside against Newcastle, suggesting that Liverpool's best dribbler by some distance might be about to add some much-needed end product to his game while Salah is away.
