Arne Slot could be prepared to drop one Liverpool star, as plenty of fixtures keep coming his side’s way in quick succession.
Liverpool is now facing the prospect of three games in seven days, with the game against West Ham United on Saturday, now being followed by two quickfire trips to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League and FA Cup.
This congested fixture schedule could well give Slot an apt opportunity to rotate his ranks.
Although, he might also be willing to stick by the starting XI that took to the field against the Hammers, as Liverpool professionally put Nuno Espirito Santo’s men to the sword, in an action-packed 5-2 win.
Realistically, though, with Jeremie Frimpong back available for selection, he might well be gifted a start against the top-flight’s basement club, with Mohamed Salah perhaps fearful he could, too, be axed, as Slot wrestles with how many changes to make.
Could Salah be dropped?
Lots has been discussed about Salah’s recent drop-off in form on Merseyside, with the Egyptian now going ten long games without a goal for the Reds, which is very unusual for a player of the 33-year-old’s billing.
It has led to former Liverpool winger Mark Kennedy taking to TalkSPORT to declare that the Reds’ all-time top goalscorer in Premier League history is now “yesterday’s man” when it comes to his dwindling performances.
He said: “When I look at Salah’s stats from last year, they’re phenomenal.
But, everytime I watched Liverpool last year, I never liked Salah. I thought his ball retention was really, really poor, he gives up a lot of possession.
I have been really vocal about Salah. I think, I don’t want to be controversial here, as I’m a Liverpool fan, I’m a big fan of Salah, I think he’s amazing.
But, he’s yesterday’s man!”
Salah struggled in spurts against West Ham, as he failed to find the back of the net again, but his class is surely permanent enough to warrant a start against Wolves on Tuesday night.
After all, the two-time Premier League title winner has a gleaming recent record when facing off against the Old Gold, and it could be a perfect platform for Salah to express himself and break his drought against the relegation-destined hosts.
Salah vs Wolves: last five appearances:
| Date | Competition | Result | Goals | Assists | Key Stat |
| February 16 2025 | Premier League | W 2-1 | 1 | 0 | Scored the winning penalty |
| September 28 2024 | Premier League | W 2-1 | 1 | 0 | Converted a second-half penalty |
| May 19 2024 | Premier League | W 2-0 | 0 | 0 | 7 shots, 5 on target |
| September 16 2023 | Premier League | W 3-1 | 0 | 2 | Provided assists for Gakpo + Robertson |
| March 1 2023 | Premier League | W 2-0 | 1 | 0 | Scored late to seal a win |
Liverpool have won their last five contests against the West Midlands challengers, when Salah has featured, with the Egyptian chipping in with three goals and two assists along the way.
Therefore, it isn’t straightforward to drop the ageing attacker, despite criticism ramping up, with Slot also offering his thoughts on Salah’s up-and-down form for Liverpool, so deep into his decorated Anfield adventure.
Slot’s recent comments on Salah
In the build-up to the West Ham win, Slot was quizzed on Salah’s indifferent run of form for the Reds, with the 113-time Egypt international arguably now a victim of his own amazing successes.
He said: “He set his own standards and those are so, so, so high that the moment when he doesn’t score for a few games, people are immediately surprised.
So that is only something that’s probably the biggest compliment he can get. And then with data you can use it in your advantage or disadvantage.
So, not to use the FA Cup game if we play a Premier League side, you can argue if that is fair. But that’s the way it works. If we want to highlight something really positive, we try to forget one or two games. If we want to highlight something really negative, we can try to forget one or two games as well.
For me, I think it’s quite recently – three games ago – that he had an assist and a goal against a Premier League side, Brighton, that is a very good Premier League team for so many years already.
So, that’s the reality. Then you can change data and say he did not score in nine Premier League games. That’s the standard he set for himself, that’s why people are surprised when things like that happen.”
Despite Slot publicly backing his star man to improve, there must be a temptation on the Dutchman’s end to perhaps gift rising star Rio Nguhoma a chance to shine from the get-go, as the fixtures pile up.
It will be intriguing to see what lineup Slot does pick for the showdown at Molineux on Tuesday night, with Liverpool hopeful they can collect another Premier League victory to shore up a spot in the top four.
