King Mohamed Salah on course for historic season with Liverpool

The weekend’s Premier League action saw some eye-catching results, from Bournemouth’s 5-0 win over high-flying Nottingham Forest to Leicester City’s 2-1 away win against Tottenham Hotspur. Here are five key talking points.

Salah’s red-hot season could go down in record books

Mohamed Salah’s 35th-minute strike in Liverpool’s 4-1 win over Ipswich Town at Anfield took “The Egyptian King” to 19 goals in 22 league matches this season. It was also his 176th goal in the league which moves him past Arsenal legend Thierry Henry (175) to seventh place in the Premier League’s all-time goal scoring chart.

Chelsea legend Frank Lampard (177) is next but Salah would already be eyeing Manchester City icon Sergio Aguero (184), who is fifth on the list.

Salah’s feat also comes in the same week in which he became the first Liverpool player to score 50 goals in European competition.

If he can guide the Reds to a first league title since 2020 and another Champions League crown, then the winger cannot be overlooked for the Ballon d’Or. Michael Owen is the only Liverpool player to have won the prestigious award (2001).

Revitalised Manchester City close the gap on Arsenal

The defending champions’ 3-1 win over Chelsea meant that they are now unbeaten in six league matches, winning four of their last five.

Suddenly they are just six points off second-placed Arsenal, whom they meet on Feb 2, and they have also bolstered the squad by adding forward Omar Marmoush, 25, and defenders Vitor Reis, 19, and Abdukodir Khusanov, 20.

Two of these players started against the Blues but had contrasting debuts. Uzbekistan defender Khusanov gave Chelsea the opening goal and got a yellow card for a rash challenge all in the space of the first four minutes. He was hooked nine minutes into the second half.

On the other hand, Marmoush was bright and his movement also freed up Erling Haaland, so often a marked man in matches. The addition of the Egyptian attacker will make Haaland and City more dangerous, which is a scary prospect for defences.

Goalkeeping blues at Chelsea as Sanchez errs again

In a week when Chelsea have reportedly been in the market for a winger – Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho is a target – their need for a better goalkeeper became more pressing.

Another error by their goalkeeper Robert Sanchez led to City’s second goal and the Spanish custodian has now made five errors leading to a goal. No Premier League player has made more.

The other options are not great either. Summer signing Filip Jorgensen, 22, has played mainly in cup competitions since he arrived from Villarreal but has yet to convince, while third-choice Briton Marcus Bettinelli, 32, last played in an FA Cup tie against lower-league Chesterfield FC in 2022.

Levy’s big decision: Sack Postecoglou or back him

Just when we thought it could not get worse, Tottenham Hotspur surprised us. Leicester City ended a seven-game league losing run with a 2-1 away win over Spurs, who have now lost six of their last seven matches.

There is now more pressure than ever on Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian is dealing with a major injury crisis – 10 first-team players were unavailable against Leicester, including four of his first-choice back five – that has exposed the ineptitude of the remaining players.

For all the blame directed at Postecoglou, fitting square pegs in round holes – as what he has done fielding out-of-position players – never works out in a competition as robust as the Premier League.

Spurs’ position in the table is a reflection of who they have been able to field in recent months as much as the manager’s tactical naivety.

Chairman Daniel Levy has a decision to make. He either backs his man and takes out the chequebook before the Feb 3 deadline or he can cut his losses and hire their 13th permanent manager under his tenure.

Refereeing howler adds more scrutiny on officials

The most bizarre refereeing decision yet of the current Premier League campaign (of perhaps even any season) took place on Jan 25 during Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers when Gunners defender Myles Lewis-Skelly was shown a straight red card in the 43rd minute. The 18-year-old had slid in on Wolves’ Matt Doherty just above the ankle in an attempt to stop a counter-attack about 60m away from Arsenal’s goal.

Referee Michael Oliver’s decision was upheld by the video assistant referee.

Such has been the regularity of refereeing calamity this season, that we can have a mini competition of which decision is the worst – though Oliver has already given us a winner. Bruno Fernandes’ red card against Spurs and Joao Pedro’s elbow towards a Brentford player escaping a sending-off are some controversial decisions that come to mind.