Welcome to The Radar, a Sky Sports column in which Nick Wright uses a blend of data and opinion to shed light on need-to-know stories from up and down the Premier League. This week:
📊 Salah’s astonishing numbers
🔴 Onus on Odegaard at Arsenal
🔥 Agbadou’s impact for Wolves
Salah to beat Shearer, Cole record?
Everton were able to keep Mohamed Salah quiet for long spells of Wednesday’s Merseyside derby but his brilliance won out eventually. After producing the sumptuous cross for Liverpool’s leveller, he scored their second from his only touch in Everton’s box all night.
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Watch a breakdown of the numbers behind Mohamed Salah’s remarkable season
It was the first time in his entire Premier League career that Salah has been limited to a solitary touch inside the opposition box in a game in which he has completed the 90 minutes. His total of two shots was his lowest since October. And yet he found a way.
James Tarkowski’s stoppage-time equaliser denied Liverpool three points but Salah’s phenomenal season continues. He tops the charts for both goals and assists, with 22 and 14 respectively. Nobody in the Premier League gets close to his combined total.
The numbers would be impressive enough for a full season but Liverpool still have 14 games to play. Salah has already smashed his totals for the last two campaigns. He has equalled the figure that clinched him a PFA and FWA player of the year double in 2021/22.
Only 10 players in Premier League history have racked up more goal involvements in individual seasons than his current total of 36. Salah is on track to comfortably beat the record of 47, set by Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer during 42-game seasons in the early ’90s.
In fact, continue at his current rate of 1.52 goal involvements per 90 minutes for the remainder of the season and Salah would not just beat their record but shatter it. He is projected to hit 57. His rate of productivity could roughly halve and he would still set a new record.
All this from a player who turns 33 in June. Salah should be slowing down. Instead, he is better than ever, hitting a level which is unprecedented in the Premier League era.
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Jamie Carragher examines whether Liverpool are too reliant on Mohamed Salah
His astonishing output underlines his value to Liverpool as uncertainty continues around his future. The loss of a player who has either scored or assisted 62 per cent of their Premier League goals this season in June would be seismic.
But what is certain is that Salah is utterly committed to the task at hand this season, with a manager in Arne Slot who deserves credit for facilitating his improvement.
Sunday 16th February 1:00pm
Kick off 2:00pm
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Premier League HD”/>Salah has always been an exceptional athlete, of course, but Slot has helped him by reducing his responsibility out of possession, allowing him to focus his energy on what he does best.
Salah is covering less ground, sprinting less and make fewer pressures than in any of the last three seasons.
Slot has lessened the intensity of Liverpool’s press generally, eschewing chaos for control, but it is a case of others picking up the slack too. The team is built to maximise Salah’s talent. Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz are running a kilometre and a kilometre-and-a-half further than him respectively per 90 minutes.
All of which should give Liverpool supporters cause for optimism about what is still to come from Salah this season, even if his future beyond that remains unclear. The risk of injury exists for every player, of course, but he does not look like someone at risk of tiring.
An already-outstanding individual campaign may go down as the greatest in Premier League history.
Odegaard must step up for Arsenal
While Salah continues to power Liverpool’s title charge, second-placed Arsenal are facing an attacking injury crisis, with Kai Havertz the latest player to join their absentee list.
The 25-year-old’s hamstring tear has left Raheem Sterling, Leandro Trossard and Ethan Nwaneri as Mikel Arteta’s only available forwards. It has also increased the onus on Martin Odegaard.
Martin Odegaard has only scored three times this season
The Arsenal captain is enduring the most difficult season of his Gunners career in front of goal having only scored twice in 16 Premier League games and three in 25 in all competitions.
A player who hit 15 goals in a stunning 2022/23 campaign, 14 of which came from open play – the joint-highest total by a midfielder in Premier League history – was, until his recent efforts against Dinamo Zagreb and Manchester City, on a run of nine months without one.
Arteta has said he always felt it would be difficult for Odegaard to sustain his 2022/23 scoring rate but the decline in his output is still concerning. Odegaard remains integral to Arsenal’s flow but he is getting fewer shots off and converting a lower percentage.
His season has of course been impacted by injury. An ankle sprain ruled him out for two months between September and December. Illness has caused further disruption since then. But Arsenal need him to step up now more than ever amid their injury crisis.
They will hope his recent efforts are evidence of a corner being turned. His goals against Dinamo and City mean he has two in his last four appearances having only scored one in his previous 26. More will be required in the weeks and months ahead.
Agbadou bolsters Wolves defence
While Odegaard will be tasked with breaking down Leicester’s defence this weekend, Salah will be facing a Wolves backline which looks stronger for the arrival of Emmanuel Agbadou.
The centre-back has started every game since his £16.6m arrival from Reims on January 9, impressing in and out of possession and adding pace. In the space of only four games, he has clocked the seventh-highest top speed in the Premier League this season.
Agbadou goes into Sunday’s game against Liverpool having helped Wolves keep back-to-back clean sheets against Aston Villa and Blackburn but their manager deserves credit too.
Since Vitor Pereira’s appointment in place of Gary O’Neil in December, Wolves are conceding fewer goals, facing fewer shots and allowing fewer expected goals against.
Agbadou has helped and Wolves fans will hope Nasser Djiga, another January centre-back recruit who is yet to make his debut following his arrival from Red Star Belgrade, can have a similar impact.
Live Radar: What’s on Sky this weekend?
Brighton welcome Chelsea to the Amex Stadium on Friday Night Football, live on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event from 7pm, with kick-off at 8pm.
Crystal Palace host Everton on Saturday Night Football, with coverage starting on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event from 5pm ahead of the 5.30pm kick-off.
Super Sunday sees Liverpool take on Wolves in the early game, kicking off at 2pm, with Tottenham’s meeting with Manchester United following at 4.30pm. Coverage of that double-header begins on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event at 1pm.
Read last week’s Radar column
Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba’s battle with Erling Haaland was the focus of last week’s column ahead of Manchester City’s trip to Arsenal. Fair to say it lived up to expectations in terms of drama. Archie Gray’s versatility for Tottenham and Andoni Iraola’s defensive innovation at Bournemouth were also covered.
