Jurgen Klopp has joked Mohamed Salah "found a right foot on holiday" as he hailed the forward's continued development ahead of Monday's trip to Manchester United.
Salah has picked up from where he left off last season with two goals and an assist in Liverpool's opening three games of the 2022-23 campaign.
The Egypt international has also created 12 chances across those three outings, which is five more than next-best Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Indeed, only Borussia Monchengladbach's Alassane Plea and Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar (both 13) have created more chances this term across Europe's top five leagues.
And as Salah looks to match Thierry Henry in winning the Premier League Golden Boot for a record fourth time, Klopp believes the 30-year-old is only getting better with time.
"I think he found a right foot on holiday. He always develops. It's really crazy," Klopp told Sky Sports.
"This year he arrived with crosses with his right foot. He's obviously a top professional and he really tries to add on things into his game.
"He is a top, top, top striker and with the numbers he had, not only scoring-wise but assisting-wise as well, it's big."
Salah has scored eight goals in his past four games against United in all competitions, netting six of those at Old Trafford, including a hat-trick in this fixture last season.
He has nine goals against United overall and could become the first Liverpool player ever to reach double figures against their fierce rivals.
"I'm pretty sure he knows that," Klopp said what that statistic was put to him. "I didn't know it but I'm pretty sure Mo knows it, so good news!"
Salah signed a new three-year deal at Anfield last month, coming on the back of fellow forward Sadio Mane's departure to Bayern Munich.
Liverpool offset that exit by bringing in Darwin Nunez from Benfica, while Luis Diaz has made a big impact since arriving from Porto midway through last season.
Diaz rescued Liverpool a 1-1 draw at home to Crystal Palace on Monday after Nunez was sent off and Klopp has been impressed by his swift adaptation to a new league.
"He had to play immediately because [Salah and Mane] were at the Africa Cup of Nations, so that helped him settle in," Klopp said.
"That gave him immediate confidence. It's his quality, his talent, his skill set. He's a really good player. We knew it before and when you're really good it's easier to settle in.
"He has this special thing: He can score from outside the box, which for a striker is really important. He's very, very important for us."
Aldershot move into play-off places with victory at 10-man Gateshead
Kwame Thomas headed Aldershot into the National League play-off places in a 1-0 win away to a Gateshead side who played almost half the match with a defender deputising in goal.
Gateshead had goalkeeper Nathan Harness sent off in the 47th minute for bringing down James Daly outside the box and, with no stopper on the bench, Louis Storey went between the posts for the rest of the night.
Storey made a good save to keep out Cian Harries’ free-kick in the 51st minute, but could do nothing as the visitors took the lead 10 minutes later.
Thomas got on the end of a looping cross from Josh Barrett to head in, and it proved enough for a win that puts them one point above FC Halifax, who host Oldham on Thursday.
Haaland, Palmer, Watkins? Assessing the Premier League's Golden Boot candidates
There is a thrilling three-horse race for the Premier League title as we approach the run-in, but there is also another tussle on the cards.
The Golden Boot is up for grabs, with Erling Haaland having not quite hit the same heights as he did last season, when he broke the Premier League record for goals, with 36.
Manchester City star Haaland is, as it stands, level with his former club-mate Cole Palmer at the top of the competition’s scoring charts, with 20 goals apiece.
Palmer, who will go up against his old club in the FA Cup semi-finals this weekend, moved way up in the charts after he netted four times in Chelsea’s 6-0 rout of Everton on Monday.
But with Palmer and Haaland in FA Cup action, there are plenty of other Golden Boot candidates looking to take advantage and nudge themselves to the front of the pack.
Using Opta data, we assess the numbers behind the players vying for this individual accolade.
Erling Haaland (20)
Sure, Haaland might not quite have scaled the same heights as last season, but he has still scored 20 goals in 26 league games, scoring a goal every 109 minutes on average.
However, the Norwegian has actually underperformed his expected goals (xG) of 23.7 – that 3.7 differential is actually the biggest xG underperformance of any player on this list.
What about Haaland’s expected goals on target (xGOT)? That metric can be used to measure the quality of a player’s finishing, and Haaland’s xGOT of 20.3 suggests the 23-year-old is about on track based on where he has been placing his shots.
Haaland has also chipped in with five assists, giving him an overall goal contributions tally of 25. He has created 28 goalscoring chances for team-mates across the campaign.
Of course, Haaland is a penalty box poacher – 16 of his goals have come from inside the area, while 14 of them have come with his stronger left foot.
Cole Palmer (20)
Palmer has stolen the show this season for Chelsea, and is arguably the Blues’ driving force behind their push for European football.
Having signed from City last summer, Palmer has made an instant impact despite only playing 27 times – he averages a goal every 103 minutes, which is better than any of the other candidates featured here.
He scored a perfect hat-trick in the first half of the demolition of Everton, before adding a fourth from the penalty spot after the break – that was Palmer’s ninth successfully converted spot-kick in the league this term.
Unlike Haaland, Palmer has overperformed his xG (15), with his non-penalty xG coming in at 7.9, while also proving his creative talents with nine assists from 53 chances created, which ranks behind only Mohamed Salah (60) of players featured here.
Those 29 goal contributions are matched by only one other Premier League player…
Ollie Watkins (19)
One goal behind Palmer and Haaland, and someone who will be looking to get ahead when Aston Villa face Bournemouth on Sunday, is England international Watkins.
A deft chip in Villa’s brilliant 2-0 win over Arsenal last time out brought up Watkins’ 19th top-flight goal of the campaign – he is now the club’s joint-leading scorer in a single season in the Premier League, matching Christian Benteke (2012-13).
What separates Watkins from Palmer and Haaland is his minutes per goal ratio – Watkins has netted every 147 minutes on average, which is 44 minutes worse off than Palmer and 38 than Haaland.
However, with 10 assists, the former Brentford forward leads the goal contributions charts along with Palmer. Interestingly, however, Watkins’ assists have come from an expected assists (xA) of just 3.6, suggesting he has been the benefactor of some particularly excellent finishing from his Villa team-mates.
A goal against Bournemouth on Sunday would see Watkins become just the third English player to score 20+ goals and assist 10+ goals in a 38-game season, along with Frank Lampard in 2009-10 (22 goals, 14 assists) and Harry Kane in 2020-21 (23 goals, 14 assists)
Watkins has proved to be a deadly finisher under Unai Emery, though the trick for opposing defences could be to prevent him getting space in the area to begin with, given that all 19 of his goals have come from inside the box. Obviously, that is easier said than done.
Mohamed Salah (17)
Liverpool will be hoping to bounce back from their damaging defeat to Crystal Palace last week when they take on Fulham on Sunday, and key to the Reds’ clinching success in Jurgen Klopp’s farewell tour will surely be the form of Salah.
Since sustaining an injury at the Africa Cup of Nations, Salah has not quite hit top form, but he has still netted 17 goals across 26 league appearances this term, though five of those have been penalties.
With an xGOT of 18.4, Salah can point to some above average goalkeeping as a reason for a small underperformance.
Creatively, Salah has been excellent, providing nine assists and crafting 60 opportunities, but the Reds will need him at his very best in the run-in.
Alexander Isak (17)
Isak was at the double in Newcastle United’s 4-0 thrashing of Tottenham last time out. He has now scored 12 goals in as many Premier League appearances at St James’ Park this season.
His opener against Spurs saw him become the fourth player to score in six consecutive Premier League home matches for Newcastle, with only Andrew Cole (eight) and Alan Shearer (15) having longer such runs, with Isak now level with Les Ferdinand’s best such run. The only other Swede to have netted as many Premier League goals in a single campaign as Isak has this term is the great Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who scored 17 times for Manchester United in 2016-17.
Only Palmer has a better minutes per goal ratio than Isak (104) of the players on this list, while he has overperformed his xG by 1.1.
Isak has not provided quite as much creatively as others on this list, providing just one assist, but his 28.3 per cent shot conversion rate tops this list by some distance, with Palmer (24.4) next best.
Dominic Solanke (17)
Another player on 17 goals, and the final selection here, is Bournemouth talisman Solanke.
His 18.1 per cent shot conversion rate may short fall of the other stars on this list, but Solanke is having a fantastic season, having become Bournemouth’s top Premier League goalscorer in a single campaign, surpassing Joshua King’s tally of 16 from the 2016-17 season.
Only one of Solanke’s strikes has come from the spot, with the 26-year-old outperforming his 15.7 non-penalty xG, though his minutes per goal ratio of 167 is quite a stark drop-off from most of his Golden Boot rivals.
The Chasing Pack
Former Golden Boot winner Son Heung-min (15), Jarrod Bowen (15), Bukayo Saka (14) and Phil Foden (14) are all well in the hunt.
The fact that 10 players are within six goals of each other shows just how tight this Golden Boot race is shaping up to be, though the chasing pack are running out of time if they are to make a late push for the award.
Jurgen Klopp hopes Liverpool can evoke spirit of Barcelona comeback at Atalanta
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp will evoke the spirit of their Barcelona comeback when he sends his team out to keep their Europa League hopes alive against Atalanta in Bergamo.
The Reds have a 3-0 deficit to overturn from the first leg if they are to make the semi-finals, a scenario which has echoes of their famous comeback to beat the Catalan side in a Champions League semi-final in May 2019 on their way to winning a sixth European Cup.
After that victory his players remarked about the stirring speech he gave in the dressing room before kick-off and Klopp said, although he does not yet have anything planned, he can use that brilliant night at Anfield as a reference point even though they will not have the backing of a home crowd.
“I usually don’t prepare these things like that, especially not the day before or four years before whatever,” he said.
“I remember I said, ‘If we fail, then let’s fail in the most beautiful way’. And that’s exactly how I see it again.
“After the game (last week) everyone in the stadium thought ‘that’s it’. Now it’s a week later I don’t think everyone thinks it is already decided
“We want to win the game. If we want to win, we better play good. If we play good, we have a chance to win it. Then we will see.”
That Barcelona victory is the only time in Liverpool’s long European history they have overturned a three-goal first leg deficit.
However, they have never made such a comeback playing the second leg away from home and in the four first leg European ties they have lost at Anfield they have never progressed to the next round.
Liverpool hammered Atalanta 5-0 at home in a behind-closed-doors Champions League group game during lockdown in November 2020 – having lost the home leg 2-0 – and Klopp hopes they can capitalise on any indecision the hosts may have about how to approach their seemingly comfortable lead.
“Tomorrow is more difficult because they don’t have to score at all,” he added.
“We will see who deals better with the situation. If Atalanta go through then they will deserve it. If not, then something special will have happened.
“We have to do better. It’s really not simple because usually you fight for everything but when you are 3-0 up it is not easy for them.”
Despite their significant advantage, Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini is not underestimating the occasion as they seek to book only the second European semi-final spot in the club’s history.
“We know that it will be one of the most important games in our history, if not the most important,” he told a press conference.
“Even though we won the first leg, tomorrow we start again at 0-0. Our focus will have to be not to think about the result of the first leg.”
Captain Marten De Roon added: “I don’t think only in Bergamo but I believe that all of Italy will be behind us tomorrow.”
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