Michael Owen has claimed that Liverpool fans will be hoping Mo Salah’s injury isn’t too bad after the Egyptian King appeared to pick up a slight knock in his side’s 2-0 defeat of Brighton yesterday.
Our No. 11 secured all three points with a sublime penalty at the Amex Stadium, but he was substituted not long after appearing to pick up a slight knock.
The Reds now turn their attention to Wednesday night and their trip to the capital to face Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side.
“After the penalty, he is telling Jordan Henderson that he has got a problem here,” Owen told Premier League Productions (via HITC).
“So he has actually smacked that ball with that foot (he has injured) into the back of the net.
“So, it can’t be too bad and he has walked off. But enough for him to go off because someone like Salah doesn’t go off, especially when there are goals available.
We’re currently sitting three points behind league leaders Manchester City who travel to Selhurst Park on Monday night to face Crystal Palace.
If Pep Guardiola’s side were to earn all three points in south London, the six-point gap between us and them would return once more before we play our game in hand against Arsenal next week.
We’ll need to be at our best to come away with the win at the Emirates and the fitness of Salah is vitally important.
“It would be a massive blow if he was missing any of the games. Of course, Arsenal next, with the way Arsenal are playing that’s going to be a tough one and they will want him fit for that,” Owen added.
“But Arsenal away, it’s one of the biggies. This is one of the occasions where Liverpool could drop points, so they would want him fit for that one.
“It will be critical how he is feeling in the morning because some of these injuries get way worse overnight, then they get better. You could see him mouth at Jurgen Klopp. Hopefully, it’s not too bad, he has walked off.”
We certainly hope the injury isn’t too bad.
Our No. 11 has played a lot of football in recent months so it may just be a slight bit of fatigue and he’ll be ready for Wednesday.
As Owen rightly pointed out, the former AS Roma man did walk off the pitch pretty much unaided which is a slightly positive sign.
Jurgen Klopp claimed after the game that the Egyptian ‘couldn’t walk properly’ and the injury will need ‘further assessment’, but insisted that Salah himself was not concerned by the knock.
Whilst we’re sweating on the fitness of our main man, let’s hope Palace can do us a favour and take some points of the Cityzens on Monday.
#Ep39 of The Red Nets Podcast: Should we be worried about Mo Salah? Previewing Brighton… and more!