LONDON — Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah believes that he is not only having the most impressive season of his career but also bringing out the best in those around him, the Premier League’s leading scorer said.
“I think it is my best season, I think this is my best season because I make the players around me better as well, that is what I feel,” Salah told TNT Sports.
The 32-year-old has scored 25 league goals and provided 16 assists in a stellar season to help fire Liverpool to the top of the Premier League table with an 11-point advantage over second-placed Arsenal.
“I feel like I’m in a good shape, very good shape, and trying to not just improve but to also make the players around me improve as well,” he added according to Reuters.
“That’s part of growing as well. You want everybody to play good because you’re not going to win the league alone, so you want other players to also perform.”
Salah said his own form was helping others to perform at their best.
“If you look at all the numbers around all the players, it is going to be higher than the other seasons. Plus, my assists are higher, so that means I really help them a lot.
“Cody (Gakpo), Lucho (Luis Diaz), other players, their season is the best (in their careers) – so, I think this is my best season because I make the players around me also better.”
Salah is among the favourites for the Ballon d’Or, but said that winning the biggest trophies on offer with Liverpool might not be enough to earn him the award.
“Let’s win the Premier League and the Champions League, and we will see,” he said.
“The Ballon d’Or, everybody knows sometimes there is (other) stuff involved there.”
Liverpool opened up a 13-point lead in the Premier League with a 2-0 victory over Newcastle United as closest pursuers Arsenal played out a 0-0 stalemate at Nottingham Forest.
Goals in each half by Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister were enough for Liverpool to see off Newcastle who slipped one place in the table to sixth.
Szoboszlai struck in the 11th minute when Luis Diaz cut the ball back for the Hungarian whose shot beat Nick Pope.
Mac Allister doubled the home side’s lead in the 63rd minute after Mohamed Salah picked him out.
Liverpool has come through a testing run of fixtures with a draw away at Aston Villa followed by wins against Manchester City and now Newcastle and only a calamitous slump can now deny the club a 20th English league title.
“I think the desire to win trophies is driving us on,” Mac Allister said. “We know that this season we maybe have the opportunity to win some, so we are really happy to work really hard and hopefully we can keep on going.”
Arsenal’s defeat by West Ham at the weekend knocked the stuffing out of the London club and while manager Mikel Arteta vowed not to give up the chase, a 0-0 draw at Forest was another nail in the coffin of their title dream.
Liverpool has 67 points from 28 games with Arsenal on 54, albeit having one game in hand. Forest have 48 points.
Manchester City climbed back into the top four as Erling Haaland scored the only goal at Tottenham Hotspur.
Haaland slotted in from close range in the 12th minute to become only the second player to score at least 20 goals in his first three Premier League campaigns.
