Football writer Adrian Clarke identifies the key players, team tactics and where matches could be won and lost in Matchweek 32.
Player analysis: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Salah is currently on his longest run without a Liverpool goal or assist in over four years, but with the good news of him signing a new two-year deal being announced on Friday, he will be hoping to end this dip in form soon.
To most players, a four-match spell hardly constitutes a drought, but the brilliant Egyptian is not accustomed to drawing blanks. Certainly not this season, where he has plundered an incredible 27 Premier League goals, in addition to creating 17 assists.
Nonetheless, this season’s standout star has not quite looked himself recently. He made very little impact in the UEFA Champions League second-leg tie against Paris Saint-Germain and the EFL Cup final against Newcastle United - or in league matches against Everton and Fulham.
Indeed, while he has scored two penalties against Southampton, Salah has failed to deliver an open-play goal in each of his last seven outings.
What has changed? Ahead of Sunday's match at home to West Ham United, we take a closer look.
Is Salah tired?
It should be said that it has been a physically demanding campaign for Liverpool’s star man. He has featured for all but 38 minutes of this Premier League season, ranking him fifth for the most time spent on the pitch by outfield players.
Only team-mate Virgil van Dijk has played more minutes than Salah for Liverpool this season. If Salah is feeling a touch jaded or lacking in physical or mental sharpness at the moment, it should not be a surprise.
Most starts and minutes played in PL 24/25
| Outfield players | Starts | Total min |
| Nathan Collins (BRE) | 31 | 2,790 |
|---|---|---|
| Virgil van Dijk (LIV) | 31 | 2,790 |
| Bryan Mbeumo (BRE) | 31 | 2,787 |
| James Tarkowski (EVE) | 31 | 2,782 |
| Mohamed Salah (LIV) | 31 | 2,752 |
Why has his goal threat diminished?
Liverpool’s drop-off in performance levels as a team has understandably impacted Salah’s chance count in recent weeks.
Over the last seven matches he has seen more of the ball than his season average, but not as frequently in the areas which matter most, experiencing a 19 per cent dip in touches inside the opposition box.
His shot count has also practically halved.
During his last seven appearances in all competitions, Salah has had just 1.9 shots per 90 minutes, compared with a healthy 3.7 in his first 38 matches of 2024/25.
Salah's attacking stats in all competitions 24/25
| Stats | First 38 matches | Last seven matches | ||
| Total | Mins per | Total | Mins per | |
| Goals (excl. pens) | 21 | 153.0 | 0 | - |
| Touches | 1,723 | 48.2 | 383 | 52.6 |
| Touches in opp. box | 353 | 9.9 | 58 | 8.0 |
| Total shots | 132 | 3.7 | 14 | 1.9 |
| Shot conversion | 22.7% | - | 14.3% | - |
| Expected Goals | 25.9 | 0.7 | 3.2 | 0.4 |
Salah has also been more profligate and less composed when chances arise.
While quality opportunities have been few and far between in recent matches, his finishing has been unusually wayward.
The Egyptian’s only two goals have come from the penalty spot, during a period where he has spurned the kind of chances he was previously tucking away with ease.
This shot on the half-volley against Fulham last weekend was an uncharacteristically loose effort, and he also sent a close-range far-post header straight into Jordan Pickford’s arms in the previous match against Everton.
Salah's chance v Fulham
Salah's chance v Everton
Opponents are denying Salah space
If you leave Salah isolated in 1v1s against your full-back, there is usually only one outcome.
Having seen him torment a string of defenders this season, conjuring up eight assists and three goals from ball carries, rival sides have begun to formulate game plans which centre around denying Salah space to run into.
Fast breaks have been less commonplace of late with Newcastle (38.8 per cent), Southampton (28.8 per cent), Everton (26.1 per cent) and Fulham (37.9 per cent) all setting their stall out to allow Slot’s men the bulk of possession.
Opponents have set themselves up in lower blocks against Salah in a bid to slow him down and frustrate him, and put more players around the ball in close quarters to him.
For that reason, he has found it far more difficult to go past defenders.
As you can see in this table below, Salah’s dribbling has been poor of late, completing just two of 20 attempted dribbles successfully.
This is a huge decline from his 50.5 per cent completion rate in the opening 27 top-flight matches.
Salah's PL dribbles compared 24/25
| First 27 matches | Last four matches | |||
| Total | Per 90 | Total | Per 90 | |
| Dribbles attempted | 97 | 3.6 | 20 | 5.0 |
| Dribbles completed | 49 | 1.8 | 2 | 0.5 |
| Dribbles success % | 50.5% | - | 10% | - |
A combination of defensive tactics from Liverpool’s opponents and Salah’s own fading sharpness have made him less threatening with the ball at his feet.
At home to Newcastle, Salah was successful in just one of 11 dribbles, and since then he has carried the ball with less confidence, making only one successful dribble from nine further attempts.
Graham Potter’s West Ham will adopt a similar approach, slowing him down as often as possible, and crowding the room he has to work in.
Can Salah still make history this season?
It looked for a while that Salah may threaten Erling Haaland’s record-breaking 36-goal haul from the 2022/23 campaign, but his hopes of eclipsing that are now fading.
Ten more goals would be required to break it from his last seven outings, and despite his incredible exploits he has not produced that level of strike-rate during any of his hot streaks this season.
But the assists record is very much under threat, with just three more required to equal the 20 produced by Kevin De Bruyne (2019/20) and Thierry Henry (2002/03).
Creating four goals in the final seven fixtures is far from impossible.
Until this point Salah has made a goal once every 162 minutes, and if that level is maintained he is likely to get three or four more assists before the final whistle blows on the season.
Salah has already equalled the most goals and assists in a 38-match season, but he will now have his eyes firmly set on breaking a long-standing record shared by Alan Shearer and Andrew Cole since the early 1990s.
The pair each produced a combined total of 47 goals and assists in a Premier League season - and those numbers came in a 42-match campaign.
Salah needs just four more contributions to go past that, in a 38-match season.
Most direct goal involvements in a PL season
| Player | Season | Goal involvements |
| Alan Shearer (NEW) | 1994/95 | 47* |
|---|---|---|
| Andy Cole (NEW) | 1993/94 | 47* |
| Mohamed Salah (LIV) | 2024/25 | 44 |
| Thierry Henry (ARS) | 2002/03 | 44 |
| Erling Haaland (MCI) | 2022/23 | 44 |
| Luis Suarez (LIV) | 2013/14 | 43 |
*42-match season
To achieve it, Salah must rediscover a better level of form, without necessarily needing to be at his imperious best to overtake that landmark figure.
In the seven corresponding fixtures from the matches which remain, Salah produced a seriously impressive seven goals and five assists.
If he can repeat that standard and seal a second title-winner's medal with Liverpool, this would go down in history as the finest season by an any individual player in the Premier League era.
Right now, it feels as if he’s flagging. Yet should Salah find a second wind during the run-in, history certainly beckons for a player who is likely to sweep the board at the end-of-season awards.
