Arne Slot makes Mo Salah prediction after noticing Liverpool star lost his smile

Mohamed Salah is set to leave Liverpool on a free transfer this summer as things stand and the Egyptian has had a difficult few weeks after going out of the Champions League, before losing the Carabao Cup final

Arne Slot expects to see Mohamed Salah with a smile on his face at Fulham. Liverpool’s top goalscorer has not found the back of the net in three successive games for the Reds – and the last time he went longer than that without hitting the target was more than two years ago.

But Slot believes it’s the disappointment of going out of the Champions League at the hands of Paris St Germain and then losing the Carabao Cup final to Newcastle that has made Salah sad rather than his form in front of goal.

He said: “I think Mo has smiled less because we went out of the Champions League and we lost the final. It has nothing to do with not scoring a goal.

“For me it’s simple, sometimes the fixture list is more difficult than other periods of the season so you face Paris St Germain, Newcastle in a final and then a derby.

“He hasn’t scored in three – so that’s why he has to score on Sunday! Hopefully he will. Paris St Germain is one of the best teams in Europe at the moment.

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“Newcastle in the final – they were all over it. Everton, with 10 people in their own 18-yard box all the time, it’s so difficult to score a goal against them.

“I know Mo – and he lives for goals. It would be weird if he was saying ‘oh, I’m happy I didn’t score.’ But he’s not distracted or thinking ‘I can’t play football any more’. Mo knows that his biggest quality is he can play a poor game and still score a goal. So his head is not all over the place. Not at all.

“That’s why he scores so many goals, because he wants it so much. There were probably periods this season when he smiled a bit more – but that’s not just him.”

Meanwhile, Slot also hit back at former Reds star Michael Owen for claiming that winning the Premier League was not enough for a club like Liverpool during a post-match interview with Virgil van Dijk following their 1-0 win over Everton in midweek.

“Michael did play for us didn’t he?” Slot said. “So he is aware of the fact that in 35 years we won the league once? There is your answer.

“If you can win the league with this club then, phew, nothing else matters I would say. If you do it 10 times in a row then I could understand that people say: ‘Oh but you only win the Premier League.’

“If [Manchester] City only won the Premier League then I could understand people saying: ‘It’s not a good season for City.’ But if, at this club, you can compete for it and let alone win it, then it is a strange question to ask in my opinion. If Virgil has this opinion as well then I agree with him.”

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