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LONDON (Reuters): Four-goal Mohamed Salah set a Liverpool record as they moved to third in the Premier League by thrashing Watford on Saturday, while at the other end of the table Crystal Palace’s win edged them out of the relegation zone.
The spotlight was on the basement battle in a slimline Premier League programme, owing to the FA Cup quarter-finals, but the superb Salah took centre stage with a magnificent display in Liverpool’s 5-0 romp in the later kickoff.
He had begun the day level on 24 goals with Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane in the race for the Premier League Golden Boot but ended it four clear.
And his 36 goals in all competitions is a new record for a Liverpool player in a debut season — eclipsing the 33 scored by Fernando Torres in 2007-08. “I have to thank everyone but mainly my team mates — without them I couldn’t reach this number,” Salah, who managed only two goals in a disappointing spell with Chelsea, said.
The Egyptian needed only four minutes to give Liverpool the lead, proving too fleet-footed for Watford’s defence, to fire past Watford keeper Orestis Karnezis. He tapped in Andy Robertson’s cross shortly before halftime and soon after the interval he picked out Roberto Firmino who finished with a cheeky back-flick.
Salah completed his first Liverpool hat-trick in the 77th minute, wriggling this way and that before prodding a shot past Karnezis, and he was not finished as he slammed home from close range in the 85th minute to become the first Liverpool player since Luis Suarez in 2013 to score four goals in a league game.
A seven-match run without a win had dropped Palace back into the bottom three but they climbed out of it with an impressive 2-0 victory at Huddersfield Town, who are still in trouble.
Reuters: Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah is on his way to reaching the elite level of Lionel Messi but has no interest in being compared to the prodigious Barcelona striker, manager Juergen Klopp has said.
Salah, 25, struck four goals in Liverpool’s 5-0 thrashing of Watford that lifted them back into third place in the Premier League on Saturday.
The Egypt international moved to 28 league goals, four goals clear of Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane in the race for the Golden Boot. He has 36 in all competitions this season, the most by a Liverpool player in a debut campaign for the club.
Asked about the similarities in Salah and Messi’s style of play, Klopp said: “Mo is on the way, that’s good. I don’t think that Mo or anybody else wants to be compared with Lionel Messi.
“He (Messi) has been doing what he’s been doing for what feels like 20 years or so... the last player I know who had the same influence on a team performance was Diego Maradona.”
