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Arne Slot just got double Liverpool boost with true test of Mohamed Salah 'fix' coming

For all that Liverpool stumbled across a set-up that worked against West Ham United on Sunday, the true test of whether Arne Slot's side is back on track is still to come.

At the London Stadium, Liverpool was more resolute. It was built on a more solid foundation. But how much of that was down to the introduction of Joe Gomez and the lack of Mohamed Salah, and how much can it be explained by West Ham's limitations?

Nuno Espirito Santo's side offered very little in a sterile game that was ignited by Florian Wirtz's silkiness and opened up by a quality finish from Alexander Isak. Games with Sunderland and Leeds this week are likely to be considerably sterner tests.

Salah is one player vying to return to the starting XI after sitting out the trip to West Ham entirely, having failed to start or come off the bench in a Premier League match for which he was selected for the first time in five years.

Keeping him on the sidelines again is not impossible, but it is also not a long-term solution to Liverpool's troubles to leave out its star man from last season, who only penned a mega-money contract in April.

Likewise, as well as Wirtz did, the German playmaker must now show that he can play in that number 10 role to that level, even in more difficult games than the one just gone.

Mohamed Salah controls the ball during Liverpool vs PSV in the Champions League.

Mohamed Salah controls the ball during Liverpool vs PSV in the Champions League. (Image: Molly Darlington/Copa/Getty Images)

Wirtz was given loads of space to work in and there was not much he had to do in the way of competing for high balls or with burly defenders. Sunderland and Leeds will expect to change that.

Isak getting off the mark for Liverpool in the Premier League was clearly a very good thing — a double boost alongside Wirtz playing so well — but there is still a debate to be had about how he and Hugo Ekitike fit into the same team.

One possibility would be to play Ekitike off the left flank, but Cody Gakpo scored and assisted at West Ham. While he hasn't been at his best at the start of the season, the Dutchman always tends to be a threat and his numbers usually back that up.

Dominik Szoboszlai, the best Liverpool player so far this season, did a decent enough job out on the right while Salah was absent, but he is better in the middle. And there is still work for Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch in the center as well.

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Especially in his attack, which is the only department where there is real competition for places at the moment due to a lack of depth and injuries elsewhere, Slot has some more big calls to make.

Fitting Isak, Wirtz, Gakpo, Ektike and Salah into the same team was always going to be a challenge, but we should soon begin to see exactly what the plan was when they were put together during the summer.

As good as things looked for Liverpool against West Ham, there is still a question mark regarding what comes next.

But starting with the visit of Sunderland to Anfield on Wednesday, we should get a glimpse of just how much the corner really has been turned — and how far up the Premier League table Liverpool should dare to look.

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