Mohamed Salah moved top of the Golden Boot standings and achieved a Premier League first with his starring performance in Liverpool’s win over Tottenham.
With the forward’s contract situation still under scrutiny, the PA news agency assesses his form this season.
Double double
Salah’s two goals and two assists against Tottenham took him to 15 goals and 11 assists for the league season:
– He is the first player in a Premier League season to reach double figures in both categories before Christmas.
– It is the sixth time in his eight seasons at Liverpool that he has achieved both marks – the most for any player in Premier League history, beating Wayne Rooney’s five.
– Salah is the first player to reach double figures for both goals and assists in four consecutive Premier League seasons.
– He ranks eighth in the all-time Premier League goalscoring list with 172, and joint-10th with 80 assists alongside former England captain David Beckham.
Golden Boot
Salah is two clear of Manchester City‘s two-time Golden Boot winner Erling Haaland in this season’s top scorer charts:
– Salah has 15 goals to Haaland’s 13, with six players altogether in double figures – Cole Palmer has 11 goals for Chelsea, with Newcastle‘s Alexander Isak, Brentford‘s Bryan Mbeumo and Nottingham Forest‘s Chris Wood on 10.
– Salah won the award outright in 2017-18, his first Liverpool season, with 32 goals and has twice shared it – a three-way tie in 2018-19 with team-mate Sadio Mane and Arsenal‘s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on 22, and with Tottenham‘s Son Heung-min on 23 in 2021-22.
– Only Thierry Henry has more Premier League Golden Boots – Salah can match his record of four this season. Harry Kane and Alan Shearer are alongside Salah on three, with Haaland bidding to join them.
– Salah is on track to match his accomplishment in 2021-22 of finishing top of the goal and assist charts. Kane, Andy Cole and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink are the only other men to achieve that feat.
– No player has beaten Haaland to the Golden Boot since the Norwegian’s arrival in England.
