Wait goes on as Salah bids to break Premier League records

The wait to break the Premier League's goal involvement record goes on for Mohamed Salah.

But on his 400th Liverpool appearance, he really should have been celebrating equalling the tally.

Quite how the Egyptian side-footed Cody Gakpo's low cross wide of an empty net from just yards out in Monday's defeat at Brighton, no one really knows. His own wry smile suggested his own disbelief.

Two months ago, he looked set to destroy Premier League records and produce the greatest attacking individual season in the competition's history.

Salah's double against Southampton on 8 March took him to 27 goals and 17 assists in 29 matches, just three goal involvements short of the Premier League record of 47, held jointly by Alan Shearer and Andrew Cole.

He also looked certain to beat the record of 20 Premier League assists in a season, jointly held by Arsenal's Thierry Henry and Manchester City's Kevin de Bruyne.

Since then, has recorded just one goal and one assist in eight matches, leaving him still one short of the goal involvement record and two short of the assist record.

After helping Liverpool secure the Premier League title on 27 April, Salah said: "Hopefully I'm going to break [the goal involvements record] soon. It's something pushing me forward to just keep going and keep working hard."

With one game to go - the visit of Crystal Palace to Anfield - you still wouldn't bet against him.

Salah, who captained Liverpool for the first time in the loss at Brighton, is certain to equal one record by the end of the season - with the Golden Boot heading his way once more.

The 32-year-old leads the goal rankings with 28 this season, five ahead of Newcastle's Alexander Isak with just one match to play.

So barring anything ridiculous in the final game of the campaign, Salah will win the Premier League Golden Boot for a fourth time, equalling Henry's record for Arsenal.

He will also have an eye on winning the European Golden Shoe, an award given to the leading league scorer in Europe.

Sporting's Swedish striker Viktor Gyokeres currently tops those standings with 39 goals but, with the Portuguese league season now over, all he can do is watch and wait.

Salah needs two goals in the final game of the campaign against Palace to overtake him, while Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe is just one goal away from Gyokeres, also with one match remaining.

While Salah (28 goals) and Mbappe (29 goals) are way short of the former Coventry striker's tally, they can go past his points total thanks to the Golden Shoe's scoring system.

It's not decided simply by which player scores the most goals; the award uses a points-based system that considers the strength of the league in which a player competes.

Created in the 1967-68 season, the Golden Shoe was previously awarded to the top scorer in any European league.

However, in 1997 the rules were changed to use a ranking format that favours players in the higher profile leagues.

Since joining Liverpool from Roma for £34m in 2017, Salah has made 354 goal contributions in 400 club appearances - 244 goals and 110 assists.

He has already beaten the record for goal involvements in a 38-game season, passing Erling Haaland's best of 44 two years ago (36 goals, eight assists) and Henry's 44 in 2002-03 (24 goals, 20 assists).

Since 2006-07, only four players in England, Spain, Italy, Germany or France have reached 50 goal contributions in a single season: Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo (three times each), Barcelona's Luis Suarez (once) and Paris St-Germain's Zlatan Ibrahimovic (once).

Messi's best league total came in an incredible 2011-12 season with 66 goal contributions - 50 goals and 16 assists.

Salah has both scored and assisted a goal in 49 league matches in his career in Europe's big five leagues.

Since Opta has recorded data (from 2006-07), only Messi (102) and Ronaldo (65) have scored and assisted in the same game more often.