Iliman Ndiaye has only recently switched to right wing for Everton but Mohamed Salah has dominated there for Liverpool over many years
Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah has proven himself as not just the dominant right winger but the dominant player in the Premier League over a sustained period, yet Everton’s rookie in the position Iliman Ndiaye goes into this Saturday’s Merseyside Derby at Anfield as the man in the better league form.
Despite his underwhelming first spell in the Premier League with Chelsea between 2014-16, Evertonians don’t need reminding that Salah has been a phenomenon in a red shirt since he arrived on Merseyside in a £43million move from Roma in 2017. Smashing 44 goals in his first season, the Egyptian has now netted 247 times in 406 matches for Liverpool; has won a brace of Premier League titles; an FA Cup; a League Cup; a Champions League; a European Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup while he has completed a hat-trick of PFA Players’ Player of the Year/FWA Footballer of the Year doubles in 2018; 2022 and 2025.
While Salah has been a mainstay on the right wing for nine straight seasons – penning a new two-year deal on April 11 – until recently it was a problem position for David Moyes.
For most of the summer, the Blues did not have a recognised option for the role with Leeds United’s Jack Harrison and Napoli’s Jesper Lindstrom – who has subsequently been farmed out to Wolfsburg – returning to their parent clubs after underwhelming loan spells at Goodison Park last season, when they netted just a single goal between them (when the Dane teed up the Stoke-on-Trent-born player to equalise in the 1-1 draw at Wolverhampton Wanderers on March 8).
Although Everton eventually snapped up Southampton wonderkid Tyler Dibling on August 25 for an undisclosed fee, understood to be in the region of £35million, making him their biggest buy in a summer that saw them shell out a record net spend, the teenager is still getting to grips with his new surroundings on Merseyside and has so far only had half an hour of playing time off the substitutes’ bench in a Carabao Cup tie against League One Mansfield Town.
With on-loan Manchester City player Jack Grealish having stepped into the left-wing position he occupied for the bulk of his first season with the Blues though – and promptly being named EA Sports Player of the Month for August after four assists in his first two starts – Ndiaye has switched seamlessly onto the opposite flank, a role he has often fulfilled on international duty with Senegal, scoring in back-to-back Premier League games against Brighton & Hove Albion and then Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Everton were held to a goalless draw against Aston Villa on Saturday, but Moyes was still full of praise for his wide pair and said: “I thought Jack did brilliantly. I thought Ili was fantastic in the first half and I thought Jack was brilliant as well.
“I thought the two of them were fantastic in their ball-carrying, their one-v-one situations and are making us look a much bigger threat than we were before.”
Just how is Ndiaye shaping up though this season against ‘old master’ Salah? An examination of their individual statistics in the Premier League so far this term by Comparisonator’s Me2Others tool sheds some light.
When it comes to physical parameters, Ndiaye is ahead in all categories apart from one. With an average of 9.034km per 90 minutes, he is covering more ground than Salah’s 8.279km; he scores better for high acceleration count (29.08 to 24.44); has a greater running distance (1,101 to 929) and sprinting distance (267 to 236), although crucially, despite his relatively advanced age, the Egyptian’s maximum speed has touched 37.04 km/hr compared to the Senegalese star’s 32.93.
Iliman Ndiaye's physical statistics for Everton so far this season compared to Mohamed Salah's for Liverpool
Iliman Ndiaye's physical statistics for Everton so far this season compared to Mohamed Salah's for Liverpool
Both players have found the net twice in the Premier League but while Salah is averaging more shots (1.56 to 1) per 90 minutes, Ndiaye still has an edge for shots on target (0.75 to 0.67). The Everton man has also done more dribbles (4.26 to 3.11) and successful dribbles (1.75 to 1.56), although his Liverpool counterpart is ahead for progressive runs (2.67 to 2.26).
Although Salah is producing more when it comes to distribution, ahead 28.22 to 22.31 for passes; 19.78 to 17.8 for successful passes and 1.33 to 0.5 for key passes; Ndiaye does more off the ball to lead 4.01 to 2 on ball recoveries and 2.01 to 1.33 on interceptions. The Blues ace is also taking on opponents in individual battles and succeeding in them more often than the Reds stalwart as he’s miles ahead for duels (26.07 to 11.33) and duels won (10.78 to 4.22).
The individual fortunes of right wingers Ndiaye and Salah could be where this Saturday’s Merseyside Derby is won and lost. Everton have got big questions at left-back with Moyes choosing to use James Garner there against Aston Villa after the central midfielder had also been deployed in that role against Leeds United and Brighton & Hove Albion.
Asked whether Vitalii Mykolenko, who had started the two previous games before withdrawing from international duty with Ukraine, would be available to face the reigning Premier League champions, the Blues boss said: “I have no idea yet.”
Meanwhile, Liverpool’s £40million summer signing from Bournemouth Milos Kerkez is finding expectations much higher at Anfield than at the Vitality Stadium with Arne Slott taking the brutal decision of hooking him after just 38 minutes in the 1-0 victory at Burnley on Sunday ahead of Salah’s winner from the penalty spot five minutes into stoppage time. Handed a score of ‘4’ in the ECHO player ratings as he made way for veteran Andy Robertson, Ian Doyle wrote of the Hungarian international: “Booked for a very poor dive attempting to win a penalty, looked uncomfortable defensively at times and not much threat going forward. Subbed before he was sent off ahead of half-time.”
Whether it’s Kerkez or old campaigner Robertson who gets the nod this weekend, Moyes will be hoping that Ndiaye will be able to get at Liverpool’s defence from wide areas. The same will go for Grealish on the opposite flank as this is also an area of transition for the Reds with Trent Alexander-Arnold having defected to Real Madrid over the summer and, like with Garner, midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai was deployed there in an auxiliary role against the Clarets.
*Comparisonator is a football data comparison tool from 271 professional leagues around the world which compares players and clubs by utilising over 100 different parameters. Click here for more details.