Liverpool thrashed West Ham United 5-0 at the London Stadium to stretch their Premier League lead to eight points on Sunday with Mohamed Salah once again in irrepressible form.
The Egyptian has been enjoying a vintage season despite uncertainty over a new contract and scored once and provided two assists as Liverpool dismantled their outclassed hosts.
He now has 20 goals in all competitions this season, has scored and assisted in eight Premier League games and appears to be firing Liverpool towards a 20th league title in Dutchman Arne Slot's first season in charge.
What a performance 🙌🟢 pic.twitter.com/3fXrQvvOfQ
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 29, 2024
Liverpool have 45 points from 18 games with surprise package Nottingham Forest their closest pursuers with 37 points having played a game more. Fourth-placed Chelsea could cut the gap to seven on Sunday when they take on struggling Ipswich Town.
"The only thing on my mind is I want Liverpool to win the league and I want to be part of that," Salah told Sky Sports.
"I will do my best for the team to win the trophy. There is a few other teams catching up with us and we need to stay focused and humble and go again. I am almost hungry for more."
Asked if there was any breakthrough in extending his contract beyond this season, Salah added: "No we are far away from that and I don't want to put anything in the media."
'FAR AWAY'
While that impasse will concern Liverpool's fans, they are enjoying watching Salah reach new levels every week, as is his appreciative manager Slot who has lost only one match this calendar year, including his results with former club Feyenoord.
"If you look at his number you can't argue with that," Slot said when asked if Salah was currently the best in the world.
"Mo is definitely up there at the moment."
Liverpool had scored nine goals in their last two league games and the only surprise on Sunday was that they could not make their superiority tell in the opening stages at West Ham.
But once Luis Diaz swept a shot past home keeper Alphonse Areola after the ball rebounded kindly into his path after 30 minutes there was no stopping Slot's men.
West Ham might point to a Mohammed Kudus shot that rattled the post when it was 1-0 but they were never really in it.
Salah showed great footwork to tee up Cody Gakpo in a crowded area to make it 2-0 in the 40th minute and was then played in by Curtis Jones to effectively end the contest just before the interval, firing a shot inside the post.
Liverpool throttled back after the break but still carved out several chances and Trent Alexander-Arnold's shot deflected off the head of Max Kilman to make it 4-0 in the 54th minute.
Slot made a raft of substitutions in the second half but Salah stayed on to torment West Ham and produced a mazy dribble before releasing Jota to curl in the fifth in the 84th minute.
Some of the few West Ham fans who remained at the end booed at the final whistle but Liverpool, as they have been since the start of the season, were simply too good.