Michael Owen admitted Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane were "very quiet" as Liverpool were held to a draw by Tottenham to damage their Premier League title chances.
But the former Anfield prodigy was more upbeat about Luis Diaz, who scored the important equaliser as the Reds came from behind in the 1-1 stalemate on Saturday night. The Colombian unleashed a powerful effort from outside the area which deflected off Rodrigo Bentancur to draw the hosts level at Anfield following Son Heung-min's opener.
It marked Diaz's sixth goal for Liverpool since he arrived from Porto for £50million in the January transfer window and he has quickly established himself as a fan favourite with his electric displays. However, there was nothing electric about the performances of his forward colleagues, Salah and Mane, who failed to trouble Spurs despite boasting 51 goals between them this season.
Owen highlighted the fact the star duo were out of sorts before labelling Diaz the "bright spark" of an otherwise disappointing night for his old team. "Mo Salah, very quiet, gave the ball away an awful lot, had a couple of wrong decisions, could have passed on a couple of occasions," Owen told Premier League Productions , per Rousing the Kop. "Sadio Mane, very quiet. Diaz was probably the bright spark."
While the draw was enough for Liverpool to leapfrog Manchester City into first in the table, Pep Guardiola's defending champions will regain top spot if they pick up at least a point against Newcastle on Sunday. There are only a few games remaining this season but Owen is refusing to give up hope the Reds may yet snatch domestic glory.
Will Manchester City drop points in any of their remaining fixtures? Have your say in the comments...
"It's still one result that Liverpool need," Owen added. "Now, before the game Liverpool needed Manchester City to slip up but they could have taken a draw. Now, they need to lose one of those or get two draws. So, of course it's a worse position than it was but its still only one game that Manchester City need to slip up in. So, of course it's not over. It's still a long way to go.
They have got to go to two tough teams in Wolves and West Ham, Newcastle are playing well at the moment, Steven Gerrard would love to spoil the party. There's four different reasons there where they could [drop points]. As I say - I keep going back to it - there's only one time, they just need one slip up and Liverpool will be there to pounce."
