Mohamed Salah is the reason Man City will win the league, says Liverpool legend

Mohamed Salah's form is going to cost Liverpool the Premier League title, according to former Reds defender Steve Nicol.

The Scot, who won four titles during his time at Anfield, was responding to Salah's claim that he has been judged too harshly over a lack of goals this season compared to the 2017/18 campaign when he netted 32 times and won the Premier League Golden Boot.

Salah now hasn't scored for eight games in all competitions, although his back post header did lead to Toby Alderweireld's own goal winner for the Reds in Sunday's crucial 2-1 victory over Tottenham at Anfield.

It was after the game that Salah - who has scored 20 goals this season - defended his record in a chat with former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher, but Nicol says he has concerns about the Egyptian's form.

“His head has gone,” Nicol told ESPN.

“And he shouldn’t say he’s had a bad season because he hasn’t had a bad season. He’s had a bad second part of the season.

“As good as he was in the first part of the season, he’s been as bad in the second.”

Nicol went on to claim that Salah's displays have effectively left Liverpool fielding a front two of Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane.

“When he goes through now, the first thing in your head is ‘he’s not scoring’. I was praying he was going to pass the ball to Mane, I was praying. Because I thought if he doesn’t pass it, this isn’t going in the back of the net,” he said.

“The worrying thing I have now thinking about Liverpool is where their goals are going to come from.

“The way Liverpool are set up, (Jurgen) Klopp’s best three in the middle of the park are there to be workers, basically. They’re not there to play fancy passes through the defences and score goals, they’re there to get the ball to the front three.

“We have a situation right now where you basically have a front two, and that’s Firmino and Mane, you’re down to two players that you think are going to put the ball in the back of the net.

“You look across to Manchester City, who have got an abundance of players who can put the ball in the back of the net. That’s the difference for me right now why City will win it and Liverpool won’t.”