Mohamed Salah has the weight of the team on his shoulders tomorrow

Add as preferred source on Google

Mohamed Salah will be the most valuable player in the Liverpool team tomorrow. The Reds need him to be at his best.

Liverpool take on Manchester City tomorrow in what is undoubtedly a must-win game. That’s if the team has any hopes of retaining their Premier League trophy.

They’re currently seven points behind City having played a game more. Cutting that down to four is the only real chance they have at catching Pep Guardiola’s side.

And if they’re to do that, they need Mohamed Salah to be the best player on the team. The best player on the pitch, really.

Talisman

Liverpool haven’t scored goals at a decent rate recently. Or anywhere near a decent rate, even – they went four games without scoring once.

They fired another blank on Wednesday in a 1-0 defeat at Anfield to Brighton.

Despite that Salah is somehow the Premier League’s top goalscorer. It feels as though the team is completely blunt up top and yet they do boast the most lethal goalscorer in England.

Salah, though, is the only forward to consistently threaten teams this season. Liverpool need him to be at his best for that reason – they can’t rely on anyone else to do it.

It’s their only genuine chance at beating City.

But more than that, Liverpool need Salah to threaten in order to push City back. Salah’s pace forces teams inside their own half and the Reds have to ensure that happens.

Jurgen Klopp will apparently play with Jordan Henderson and Fabinho as his centre-back pairing. They’re not traditional defenders and won’t want to be back in their own area for large portions of the game.

Instead, they’re far more comfortable stopping counter-attacks around the halfway line. Liverpool can only make that happen if they’re pushing City back, though, and it’s largely on their £34m man to make that happen.

It would be wonderful if someone else stepped up. That would be perfect. But it hasn’t been happening this year.

Salah is the only one to score consistently and thus he’s the one Liverpool will turn to. He’s going to feel the weight of the team on his shoulders tomorrow.