The King of Egypt

Mohamed Salah: A Must-Have in Your Fantasy Football Team

Mo Salah

Source: Mohamed Salah via Facebook

Liverpool are heading in the right direction and Mohamed Salah’s individual form has been a key reason for their success so far this season. Jurgen Klopp’s side suffered an embarrassing defeat to Swansea City before crashing out of the FA Cup but Salah inspired the Reds to a 3-0 win away to Huddersfield Town and fantasy football fans will be hoping that the Egyptian can maintain his current form.

Statistics available via WhoScored support the viewpoint that Salah is Liverpool’s main man. The Egypt star moved to Anfield back in the summer but he has settled quickly, scoring 27 goals in 35 appearances. Looking purely at his Premier League record, Salah has scored 19 goals whilst recording six assists in 24 matches. Not bad for a player who once looked so out of place in the top flight.

If he isn’t in your fantasy football team already, he should be. Even at a somewhat inflated price of £10.3 million, Salah is a bargain. Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne, two of the highest scoring midfielders in the Premier League’s online fantasy game, have notched 152 and 145 points respectively. Comparatively, Salah has 189 points – making him the best and most effective player in England.

With Philippe Coutinho now out of the Anfield exit door, the onus may be on Salah to take a more creative role – and that can only mean positive things for Liverpool in their pursuit of a top-four finish. The Reds, currently valued at 2/7 in Premier League betting odds to finish in the Champions League spots, will be confident of holding their own against England’s elite clubs throughout the remainder of the campaign.

In recent years, Liverpool have been something of a gold mine when it comes to most of the popular fantasy football games. That is testament to Klopp’s emphasis on an attacking style of football and you won’t find too many players who select Liverpool defenders. Joe Gomez, a right-back by trade, is the fourth highest scoring Reds player with 71 points and Brazil star Roberto Firmino (127) is closest to Salah’s tally.

And perhaps most impressively of all, Salah is showing no signs of a dry spell. Most newbies to England’s top flight go through a blip at some stage in the campaign but the Egyptian is not your regular player. Salah has scored eight goals, assisted three for his teammates and been awarded the Man of the Match award twice in his last ten games and fans will be expecting more of the same as we enter the business end of the season.

Liverpool will be confident of snatching second place in the coming months – the Reds are just three points behind Manchester United at the time of writing. Mo Salah’s form could be the difference maker, especially with Coutinho now plying his trade over in La Liga. The Egypt star must continue to inspire his teammates or else Klopp’s side may tail off in the race to qualify for Europe’s elite club competition.