Mohamed Salah was benched in a Premier League game for the first time in over 18 months on Sunday, as the Reds recorded a much-needed win over West Ham.
Salah's brilliance for Liverpool since he joined the club eight years ago cannot be overstated, but he has endured a hugely disappointing season by his incredibly high standards. Despite being Liverpool's joint-second top scorer, the Egyptian's overall level of play has been way off what he showed last season.
Arne Slot's reason for leaving Salah out against West Ham was that he was rotating Liverpool's team during a busy period for his side – the game against Nuno Espirito Santo's side was Liverpool's first in a run of four games in 10 days.
However, Salah started 50 games for Liverpool last term, and frequently lined up in four successive games across similar time spans.
Slot was hardly going to say in public that Salah had been dropped agasint West Ham for performance-related reasons, but that is what seems to be the case.
After Liverpool won the title in May, Salah revealed what he had told Slot upon the Dutchman's arrival at Anfield: “I told him, ‘As long as you rest me defensively, I will provide offensively’. He listened a lot and you can see the numbers." Rather than resting Salah defensively, Slot chose to rest him altogether.
We will see whether there was any truth to Slot's claim that Salah's minutes are simply being managed during a busy period when Sunderland visits Anfield tonight.
Mohamed Salah on the bench versus West Ham
Salah was benched against West Ham (Image: 2025 Izzy Poles - AMA)
The performance of Liverpool's front three against West Ham makes it difficult to make a case for Salah to return to the side against the Black Cats.
Cody Gakpo registered a goal and an assist at the London Stadium, while Florian Wirtz produced an encouraging showing in East London, and Alexander Isak opened his Premier League account for Liverpool.
Isak may well be taken out of the line-up against Sunderland as Slot looks to manage his new striker's fitness, but even if he were to come out of the team, his place would be taken by Hugo Ekitike.
If Salah doesn't start against Sunderland, it would indicate that, for the first time in his Liverpool career, he is not a first-choice pick when fit and available.