Arsene Wenger hailed the return of Mohamed Salah's ruthless streak as the Egyptian got back on the scoresheet in the Merseyside derby.
Liverpool made light work of Everton with Salah bagging their opener, but it was just the eighth goal he's scored in the league all season. His struggles have been reflective of his team as the Reds - and many of their players - search for the form they've showed in recent years.
Salah hadn't scored since the return of domestic football following the World Cup but he was able to spearhead Liverpool's first league win of 2023 on Monday night. The Merseyside outfit still harbour hopes of a late run that will see them qualify for the Champions League and Wenger saw signs of Salah getting back to his best.
He told beIN Sports : “Tonight, we again saw the Salah that wins challenges, changes pace, is present in the build-up of the game. After the World Cup, he looked like he had played in the World Cup because he couldn’t find his acceleration.
"Tonight was the first time I’ve seen him again as we know him – a world-class player, deadly in finishing. He still missed two or three chances, but he scored the opener. That will give him confidence.
"We’ll see now how he continues. Overall, it was an important night for Salah.”
The win keeps Liverpool just about in touch with the top four. Brentford, Fulham and Brighton have upset the natural order and have outside chances of qualifying for Europe with Tottenham, Newcastle and Manchester United currently fighting it out for two spots in the top four.
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Salah's strike saw him combine impressively with Darwin Nunez, who is still looking to hit top form following his club-record move in the summer. The Egyptian is hopefully that their win, which was their first in the league since December, will kickstart a positive run of form.
He said: "I know that Darwin is really fast and they had a corner and we managed to play a one-two, and I knew that he's going to play the ball in the space. I was running as much as I could because he's so fast.
"We managed to win the game and that's the most important thing. We were a little bit lucky but luck always comes when you work really hard and I'm sure we work really hard. Everybody was excited for that game to change everything. Hopefully that's a start."
Liverpool travel to a Champions League hopeful when they head to Newcastle at the weekend before they return to Champions League duty with a glamour tie against European champions Real Madrid.
