Mohamed Salah will have to score another 10 goals for Liverpool this season if he is to achieve the target he set himself at the start of the season.
Salah picked up another assist in Liverpool’s 3-2 win over Villarreal on Tuesday night to move onto 30 goals and 15 assists in 46 club games this season. That is an outstanding tally, which puts him top for both metrics in the Premier League – but the Egyptian star is still not happy.
Following Liverpool’s remarkable second-half comeback in Spain, Salah was interviewed pitchside by BT Sport’s array of pundits. He was asked by Rio Ferdinand if he had a specific aim for goals and assists before the campaign began.
"Always. Before the season starts, I know what I want individually and collectively,” he replied. “Collective is the most important thing for the team. Still below [my target]]! I have big expectations for myself. Honestly, I never said this before, but before the season I said ‘Okay, I will go for 40 goals this season and 10, 15 assists’.
“Now I’ve reached the assists I need to focus on the goals now! I think now Trent [Alexander-Arnold] is going to be angry because I have the most assists in the Premier League but I will go for everything."
Salah has 13 assists in the Premier League – one more than Alexander-Arnold – while he is also clear at the top of the scoring charts on 22 goals, three more than Tottenham ’s Son Heung-min. The 29-year-old forward will have to hit a real purple patch of form if he is to reach his target of 40 goals, with Liverpool having just six games left this season: four in the Premier League and the FA Cup and Champions League final.
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While Salah is motivated by personal targets, the ultimate goal is to help Jurgen Klopp’s side win the quadruple. That is still a possibility thanks to their second-half revival against Villarreal after goals from Boulaye Dia and Francis Coquelin had wiped out their first-leg advantage.
Fabinho smashed a shot through Geronimo Rulli’s legs from Salah’s pass to restore their lead before substitute Luis Diaz headed in Alexander-Arnold’s cross and Sadio Mane took advantage of some terrible goalkeeping from Rulli to make the game safe at 5-2 on aggregate.
"Top assists is not something really big, top goal scorer is always something really big,” Salah added. “Today, when I gave the ball to Fab it changed everything. Assists count for sure, goals as well. The team is doing unbelievable so let’s hope for the best. For sure [the quadruple is the target], for sure. Maybe not in the beginning of the season, I always focus on Champions League and Premier League, but now we are close for everything so why not?
“After we beat City in the semi-finals of the FA Cup [I started to think about quadruple], but even in the Champions League group stage we played amazing, we had a tough group and played amazing. I started to think we were going to win the Champions League since then."
