Is Salah better than ever? Stats show he is still a phenomenon

Adrian Clarke looks at key tactical points and players who can be decisive in Matchweek 11.

Player analysis: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

Contributing at least one goal or assist in eight of Liverpool’s opening 10 matches, Salah is showing no signs of slowing down as a Premier League phenomenon ahead of Saturday evening's match against Aston Villa.

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The 32-year-old was always a difference maker under Jurgen Klopp, consistently delivering big moments, but Arne Slot’s arrival at Anfield seems to have given Salah an extra spring in his step.

Fresh from scoring his 48th match-winning goal in the competition against Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend – a brilliant left-footed curler - the Egyptian is looking as menacing as he has ever been.

Clinical converter

Salah’s finishing is the most ruthless it has been for many seasons.

Tucking away 23.33 per cent of his chances, including 54.55 per cent of the big chances that fall his way, he is comfortably outperforming the levels he has shown across the past four campaigns.

Salah attacking stats per 90 in 2024/25

You have to go all the way back to the 2017/18 campaign, when Salah scored an incredible 32 Premier League goals, for the last time he was delivering direct goal contributions at a better rate than he is now.

Registering seven strikes and five assists this season, he is more important than ever to Liverpool’s attack.

No sign of fatigue

Salah has never featured in fewer than 32 Premier League matches in a single season for Liverpool.

Avoiding serious injuries, the forward has played an extraordinary amount of football since arriving on Merseyside in the summer of 2017, yet there are no tell-tale indications that he is fatigued.

Salah’s top speed in 2024/25 (33.7 km/h) has not yet hit the heights of previous years (and it may be the case that he is not quite as quick now), but he is sprinting more often than he did in each of the last three campaigns.

The distance he has covered per 90 minutes this season also compares favourably with previous seasons.

Salah's top speed in last five seasons

Intelligent movement

Slot’s version of Liverpool is certainly less "heavy metal" than it was under Klopp, but their focus on greater control has had little to no impact on Salah’s influence.

He remains at his most dangerous from swift, direct attacks or transitions and they continue to be a key part of the team's armoury.

Where Salah has truly excelled this season is with his choices of movement in those situations.

The way he identified space inside Arsenal’s box, darting infield at blistering pace to convert Darwin Nunez’s pass, was typical of how alert he is.

Salah's goal v Arsenal

Salah's trademark this season is the way he glides away from markers to create space for himself.

He drifts into space that creates a distance between himself and defenders and this is one of the secrets to his success.

All of Salah’s five goals in open play have in part owed much to this awareness of space, with two good examples of this being his strikes against Brighton and Manchester United.

From his goalscoring counter at home to the Seagulls (below), Salah deliberately angled his run away from goal to open up a gap between himself and the left-back.

With the ball, he then darted inside at speed before curling home.

Salah's goal v Brighton

If you cast your mind back to his goal in Liverpool’s 3-0 win at Old Trafford in September, Salah also angled his movement away from goal in order to keep his distance from Lisandro Martinez.

The United defender's positioning allowed Salah time to score with a one-touch finish.

Salah's goal v Man Utd

Three goals in three for Salah 🙌 pic.twitter.com/S5T70h4k9F

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) September 2, 2024

Salah's spatial awareness has also been evident in several of his assists.

He darted into space brilliantly before supplying a low cross for Luis Diaz at Ipswich Town, and pulled wide smartly before crossing for the same player to head home at Man Utd.

At home to Chelsea last month, Salah also backed off towards the touchline at just the right moment to deliver a fine delivery for Curtis Jones.

As he gets older, Salah’s decision making gets better.

Salah's assist v Chelsea

Salah has never been the type of attacker who needs regular involvement in matches to make a big impression and that remains the case under Slot.

He may be quiet for long periods but his speed, skill, and deadly left foot still strike just as much fear into defenders, who continue to back pedal and drop off in a bid to protect themselves against him.

By some distance, it is Salah who has enjoyed the most touches inside opposition penalty boxes so far in 2024/25.

Interestingly, only one of the top five is a centre forward, Erling Haaland.

Hard to stop

Playing for a side who are in scintillating form, Salah has not had too much tracking back to do across the first 10 matches.

Most of the time he has hovered around Liverpool’s right-hand side in advanced areas.

These two graphics, displaying his ball carries and shots/key passes, highlight the corner of the pitch that belongs to Liverpool’s No 11.

Once in possession on that side, Salah remains one of the world’s most difficult players to stop.

Upcoming opponents Villa, and in particular left-back Lucas Digne, may arrive at Anfield feeling anxious about the prospect of handling a Liverpool side that beat German champions Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 in midweek.

Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Nunez are all in terrific form, but Salah remains Liverpool’s chief threat.

Where Salah ranks in PL 2024/25

These stats show he still belongs among the Premier League’s elite, finding himself in the top three for many of the major attacking categories.

With his contract expiring in June, Salah’s future plans are unknown, with fears growing that this may be his last season at Liverpool.

That may or may not be the case, but in the here and now, all Liverpool supporters can do is enjoy the presence of a true master of his craft.

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