Salah underlines Premier League legend status as Liverpool great surpasses Man Utd icon’s haul

Mo Salah helped himself to a hat-trick in Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Leicester on Monday night, although it was a trio of assists that he racked up as he turned provider for his teammates to score.

The Egyptian was credited with setting up both of Curtis Jones’ first-half goals at the King Power Stadium, while also teeing up the free kick from which Trent Alexander-Arnold lashed the ball past Daniel Iversen to round off a comprehensive away victory.

By half-time in the Reds’ triumph at the King Power Stadium, the 30-year-old had leapfrogged several more players in the all-time Premier League assists charts.

Following the opening goal against Leicester, Squawka Live tweeted: “Mohamed Salah has now provided more Premier League assists (55) than Eden Hazard, Juan Mata and Mesut Özil (54).”

When Jones doubled his tally and Liverpool’s lead a couple of minutes later, the statistical buffs noted on Twitter: “Mohamed Salah has now provided more Premier League assists (56) than Paul Scholes (55).”

The Egyptian’s assist for Trent’s second half-goal duly took his top-flight record to 57, putting him level with teammate Andy Robertson in joint-27th in the all-time Premier League list.

That sits along his haul of 139 goals in the division, the 14th most in the league’s 31-year history and needing just 11 more to break into the top 10 (Premier League).

Considering that his lowest scoring tally in a single campaign for Liverpool is 19 (Transfermarkt), it seems a formality that he’ll enter that exalted threshold in the next 12 months.

With Scholes a member of the Premier League’s exclusive Hall of Fame and an 11-time title winner across 19 seasons, for Salah to overtake his assists record in just his eighth campaign at this level sums up his greatness.

Hazard, Mata and Ozil have all been rightly regarded as some of the best creators in the top flight during their spells in England, too, yet they’ve all seen their assist tallies surpassed by Liverpool’s Egyptian King.

The 30-year-old mightn’t in the division’s Hall of Fame just yet, but another few seasons of racking up the staggering numbers he provides so consistently will surely see him inducted before long.

You can view Squawka’s tweets below, via @Squawka_Live on Twitter: