(Football news) Unsurprisingly, Salah kept his place in the starting lineup for the trip to Old Trafford after a dismal evening at home against Sheffield United, where he was unable to record a goal or an assist and was visibly irritated to be leaving the field before the hour.
The Reds’ chase for first place began brightly, but now they need to win to overtake Arsenal at the top of the Premier League standings. This is because of the Gunners’ 3-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday and their superior goal difference.
Luis Diaz’s strike sent Jurgen Klopp’s men into the break with a deserved 1-0 lead, although with 15 attempts on goal in the first 45 minutes, Liverpool should have trudged down the tunnel with a greater advantage.
The Reds would be made to pay for their first-half wastefulness, as Bruno Fernandes capitalised on Jarell Quansah’s mistake to score an astonishing long-range goal, before Kobbie Mainoo curled in a wonderful effort to turn the tie on its head.
However, Erik ten Hag’s troops were incapable of clinging on to their shock lead, as Aaron Wan-Bissaka felled Harvey Elliott in the final 10 minutes of normal time, and Salah coolly sent Andre Onana the wrong way from the spot.
In doing so, the 31-year-old wrote another couple of chapters of history, firstly becoming the highest-scoring visiting player at Old Trafford in the Premier League with six strikes to his name.
Former Liverpool talisman Steven Gerrard was the previous record holder with five goals at the Theatre of Dreams, and Salah has also dethroned another all-time English football great with his confidently-taken penalty.
In addition to his six Old Trafford goals, Salah has also struck five times against Man United in the Premier League at Anfield, taking his overall total against Liverpool’s bitter adversaries to 11 in the top flight.
As a result, the ex-Chelsea man is now the outright top scorer against Man United in the Premier League, overtaking the most prolific goalscorer the competition has ever seen in Alan Shearer, who struck 10 times versus the Red Devils.
The third and final slice of Premier League history for Salah on Sunday, the Egypt international also became the first visiting player to score in four straight games away to Man United in the Premier League.
Salah’s spot kick in the 84th minute was one of a staggering 28 attempts the Reds had in Sunday’s four-goal draw, four months on from letting fly 34 times at Anfield in December’s scoreless stalemate.
With a massive 62 shots over the two fixtures, Liverpool have also set a new team record for the most attempts against a single team in one Premier League season since data became available in 2003-04.
Despite their best efforts, Liverpool has only managed to secure two of the six points that they could have had against Man United. As a result, they are currently ranked second in the table, one point ahead of Manchester City and behind Arsenal on goal differential.
After the exciting match on Sunday, Klopp made a daring guess regarding Arsenal’s upcoming trip to Old Trafford the following month as he prepared his team to play Atalanta BC in the first leg of their Europa League quarterfinal on Thursday.
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