If ever there was a Liverpool player who encapsulates the smoke and mirrors often associated with football statistics, it's Mohamed Salah.
Consider this cracker. In the five-and-a-half years since Salah arrived at Anfield, the 3-1 defeat at Arsenal earlier this month was the first time the Reds had lost a Premier League game where the attacker had been missing.
Extend it to all competitions, and it was only a fourth loss with Salah absent. And two of those had mitigating circumstances, one being when Liverpool were compelled to field an Academy side in the League Cup quarter-final at Aston Villa in December 2019, the other the Europa League dead rubber away to Union Saint-Gilloise earlier this campaign.
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Indeed, perhaps the greatest result in Anfield history, the 4-0 Champions League semi-final second leg turnaround against Barcelona, was achieved with Salah on the sidelines.
In the 39 games Liverpool have played since the start of the 2017/18 season in which Salah has not played, they have won 30, drawn five and lost four. Given the importance of the Egypt international during Jurgen Klopp's reign, it would appear Liverpool are rather comfortable carrying on without their leading goalscorer.
Except, of course, that somewhat overlooks the fact a Salah absence is remarkably rare, particularly in the Premier League where, now in his sixth season at Liverpool, he has not been in the matchday squad on only 11 occasions. His durability is such he has featured in 332 out of 371 possible games - astonishing given the high-octane nature of his game and the scant protection he
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