Robbie Fowler has backed Mohamed Salah to regain his form as Liverpool face Manchester City in their vital Premier League encounter on Sunday afternoon.
Salah sits firmly at the top of the scoring charts in the Premier League, some three goals in advance of Tottenham ’s Son Heung-Min but he has not scored from open play since February and that has been the subject of much media comment.
Fowler knows all about the levels of scrutiny that high achievement brings as he famously endured a drought of eight games without a goal during the 2000/2001 season before going on to score five times in his next five appearances.
The Reds legend told the Sunday Mirror : “How you deal with the barren spells is the gauge of quality as a forward. The best of them, the world-class strikers, think differently, they always believe a run of games without a goal is merely a sign that one is just around the corner.
“And there will be an iron belief it will be spectacular, a match-winner in the biggest game. Salah will have looked at the calendar and picked today’s visit to Manchester City as the perfect platform.”
There is just one point between the two clubs with eight Premier League fixtures remaining and though many have billed this match as a title decider, Fowler does not see it that way.
He said: “I don’t think today’s showdown at the Etihad will be a title-decider. I do think, though that it will be decided by the finest of margins, as games of this magnitude invariably are.
“If Liverpool are going to emerge victorious, then they have to find the energy, intensity and passion of their very best performances under Jurgen Klopp – which they have done a couple of times against Manchester City at the Etihad.
“City must impose their passing game and keep the ball better in the face of Klopp’s ferocious press. They will also want to target once again the fact that Trent Alexander-Arnold is Liverpool’s most penetrating creative influence.
“In the end, it will probably come down to one moment of genius from one of the incredible players on show. A game of this size deserves that kind of finale.”
