Arne Slot heaps praise on ‘extraordinary’ Mohamed Salah after Liverpool star inspired Reds to 5-0 drubbing of West Ham
Arne Slot hailed ‘extraordinary’ Mohamed Salah after he took his goal tally to 20 for the eighth successive season.
Salah, who said a new contract was ‘far away’, scored one and assisted another as five-star Liverpool thrashed West Ham to end 2024 on a high and extend their lead at the top of the Premier League.
Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota also scored in the 5-0 rout to pile pressure on Hammers boss Julen Lopetegui.
And Slot said: ‘Mo and the word extraordinary is something I’ve heard a lot in the last six months — he truly deserves this.
‘We know what a player he is and we know what he’s able to do. But apart from that, he works really hard for the team also when the other team has the ball and yeah, we can only hope that he can keep bringing these performances in.
‘But I would like to add that if he scores, there’s also a lead up to him scoring. So there are also other players that bring him in these positions, but if you bring Mo in these positions, he’s extraordinary. Definitely.’
Arne Slot labelled Mohamed Salah ‘extraordinary’ after he scored again against West Ham
The Egyptian has logged the most goals (17) and assists (13) in the Premier League this season
Liverpool moved eight points clear of Nottingham Forest in second place after their 5-0 win
Salah is of course out of contract at the end of this season and when asked about this, he said: ‘We are far away from that. I don’t want to put something in the media and people start saying things.’
Meanwhile, Hammers boss Lopetegui was frustrated after his side succumbed to the leaders to end a decent run of results over the Christmas period.
The Spaniard said: ‘We did not compete as we were thinking to today or as the opponent Liverpool demands. Today has been a tough day for us.’
The only negative for Liverpool was when defender Joe Gomez went down injured and had to be substituted in the first half.
Gomez told reporters after the game that it was a hamstring injury and Liverpool will await news on the severity of the blow with scans in the next 24 hours. Fellow defender Ibrahima Konate is also injured and is hoping to step up his recovery in the coming week or so.
