Leapfrogging Mohamed Salah’s statistics would often be deemed a sign of encouragement, but not as far as Christian Benteke will be concerned.
The Crystal Palace striker endured another miserable day in front of goal on Saturday as he wasted two glorious chances to bury his former employers, who produced an impressive comeback to leave Selhurst Park as 2-1 winners.
Benteke found himself clean through on goal in the second half, only to squander the chance with a wayward attempt to lob Loris Karius.
He followed this up a matter of moments later by firing over the bar from close range after Andros Townsend had got the better of Virgil van Dijk to give Palace a three-on-one scenario against Joel Matip.
A poor afternoon saw the Belgian rise above Salah as the Premier League’s most wasteful player in terms of missing big chances, as recorded on premierleague.com.
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Conflicting realities sit beneath the figures, with the likes of Salah, Harry Kane and Sergio Aguero boasting the goals to compensate for their misses.
Salah is a notably interesting case, with his conviction in front of goal having come under question amid an early stage of the season in which the longevity of his scoring prowess was regularly coming under examination.
His missed opportunities have since evolved into a reflection of the attacking threat he carries, as well as fuelling the astonishment surrounding his remarkable 37-goal record so far this campaign.
To think he could and probably should have surpassed 40 is a scary thought and perhaps one that teases the idea there is more to come from the Egyptian.