Can Mohamed Salah steal Jamie Vardy’s Premier League record? Rating Liverpool’s upcoming opponents | OneFootball

Mohamed Salah is in the form of his life right now.

It doesn’t seem so long ago that the Egyptian was being written off as past his best. But now, a return of 15 goals and 12 assists in 21 appearances across all competitions at the start of this season has firmly put everyone back in their place.

Salah has been ruthless in the Premier League, scoring at least once in each of his last seven appearances, netting nine times in total during that run.

Of course, you might be wondering now if Salah can beat Jamie Vardy’s record of 11 consecutive Premier League games with a goal.

Well, he has another four games to go to match it and five to beat it, so how are his chances?

Everton (A)

Salah has faced Everton 11 times for Liverpool so far, only losing twice and scoring seven goals.

Of course, the Toffees beat Liverpool 2-0 in their last meeting as the Jurgen Klopp era ended with a bit of a whimper. However, that only came after netting three goals in his previous two against the Toffees.

This Saturday is the last-ever Merseyside derby at Goodison Park, so Salah will be extra-motivated.

But Everton will be even more so and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford is second only to Andre Onana (6) for Premier League clean sheets this season (5). The Toffees are also sixth in the Premier League for non-penalty expected goals on target conceded (NPXGOTC) this season (17.42).

Fulham (H)

Salah has scored four goals in eight career appearances against Fulham, but has failed to find the net in his last two.

That didn’t stop Liverpool from doing the double over the Cottagers last season, by a 7-4 scoreline. And Salah did register an assist in a 4-3 win at Anfield.

Despite their good form, Fulham have kept a clean sheet in just one of their last eight Premier League matches — and that’s in spite of being fifth for NPXGOTC and mid-table for goals conceded (19).

With this fixture taking place at Anfield, you’d be a fool to bet against Salah scoring.

Tottenham (A)

Only Manchester United (15) have conceded more goals to Salah than Tottenham, with the Egyptian breaching the Spurs backline 12 times in 20 career meetings. Salah has also lost just three times across those matches.

Only three of those goals have come away from Anfield, but Salah did net a brace in Liverpool’s 2-1 win in north London in November 2022, sparking his current run against Spurs of four goals in four appearances.

Man City are the only team to fail to score against Spurs in the Lilywhites’ last nine matches across all competitions, with Ange Postecoglou’s men 12th for NPXGOTC (19.69).

Spurs have only actually conceded 15 goals in the Premier League this season but are prone to inexplicable defensive lapses made for Salah to exploit.

Leicester City (H)

It would be so poetic for Salah to equal the record against Vardy, who is managed by the player he stole the record from: Ruud van Nistelrooy. Group selfie?

Salah has a modest record against Leicester, scoring four times in 11 career meetings.

He managed a hat-trick of assists against the Foxes last season, but has failed to score in his last four and has just one goal in his last nine.

But then, Leicester are without a clean sheet in their last eight matches across all competitions, with only Southampton (30) and Wolves (36) conceding more goals in the Premier League (28).

West Ham (A)

West Ham are the team lined up to try and stop Salah from making history but he could hardly have chosen a better opponent.

The Hammers are level with Spurs and Man City on 12 goals conceded to Salah but have done so in just 16 meetings, compared to 20 and 22 from the other two, respectively.

Like Leicester, West Ham have done a good job of keeping Salah out recently, conceding just once in their last six league meetings against him.

However, the Hammers have leaked 27 goals in the league alone this season, while has scored twice against them in the EFL Cup since the start of last season.

If Salah were to miss one of the above games due to injury or suspension, he would get the chance to break the record against none other than Manchester United. The 32-year-old has a career-high 15 goals in 16 career appearances against the Red Devils.