In the second part of his weekly column, John Aldridge looks ahead to the Premier League visit to Nottingham Forest and has outlined Liverpool's transfer priority in the summer
Mohamed Salah celebrates scoring the third goal from a penalty during the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round match between Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion.
Mohamed Salah was on the scoresheet for Liverpool against Brighton(Image: Visionhaus/Getty Images)
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There was something different about Mohamed Salah on Saturday. He appeared to have a bit of hunger back in his game. With an assist and then winning and scoring a penalty, it was much more like the Mo of old who was grabbing games by the scruff of the neck on a weekly basis.
It wasn’t perfect from Salah but he was a danger and Liverpool are going to need that if they are to get something out of this season, particularly regards finishing in the top five.
For me, we’ll probably need to win eight of our remaining Premier League games, which will include beating Chelsea at home. We also can’t afford to lose at Manchester United.
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Nottingham Forest are up next and there’s definitely a sense that we owe them one. Arne Slot hasn’t beaten Forest since taking over as Liverpool boss, and the 3-0 defeat at home to them in November was probably the lowest point of the season.
Of course, there’ll be no Sean Dyche in charge with Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis having given him the boot earlier this month and replaced him with Vitor Pereira.
Why Dyche was sacked is simple – the owner wants to stay in the Premier League as it’s worth a fortune.
Marinakis seems a bit of a hands-on owner and I wouldn’t be surprised if he picks the team, to be honest.
He knows Forest cannot afford to go down as it would see them miss out on around £200million. That’s how much it is worth staying in the Premier League.
It’s not going to be a pretty game and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s similar to the Sunderland match. Liverpool just need to keep a clean sheet and get the win.
And there’s obviously a history of rivalry between the clubs that goes back almost 50 years. Forest have done very well to get back into the Premier League and they’ll be desperate to stay there and we’re going to have to cope with that on Sunday.
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Liverpool transfer call
Wataru Endo became the latest victim of the right-back curse for Liverpool with his injury suffered at Sunderland.
Curtis Jones, who played in the position on Saturday, and Dominik Szoboszlai have shown they are capable of doing a job there until Jeremie Frimpong returns.
I was expecting Joe Gomez to start at right-back against Brighton but it’s clear Arne Slot wants to keep him wrapped up in cotton wool as an alternative to Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk at centre-back. He’s going to be needed at some point.
But Endo’s injury has also left us a bit short in central midfield, even if Slot has clearly been reluctant to play the Japan international there.
For me, Liverpool need to prioritise at top holding midfielder in the summer, someone who can help protect the centre-backs and who can also get forward when required and get stuck in.
That, I think, is the one thing this team is missing. Because with so many of the new signings finding their feet and of a young age, what we are seeing now is that Liverpool have the basis of a good team.
* John Aldridge was speaking to Ian Doyle
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