Brighton & Hove Albion manager Graham Potter claims Mohamed Salah isn’t “world class” while admitting he doesn’t know how his team are going to stop the in-form Liverpool star.
Salah has scored in his last 10 consecutive matches (a 14-goal blast culminating with his hat-trick against Manchester United at Old Trafford last Sunday) and with the Seagulls heading up to Anfield on Saturday, Potter knows his side will have their work cut out trying to contain the Reds’ ‘Egyptian King.’
READ MORE: Mohamed Salah's Liverpool team-mate opens up on Egyptian's contract talks
LIVE: Jurgen Klopp's pre-Brighton press conference with Thiago and Keita injury latest
READ MORE: Salah sent 'massive' transfer message amid Liverpool contract talks
Potter quipped that Salah isn’t work class but is actually better.
Asked how you stop the 29-year-old, he said: “That's a very good question. At the moment he’s not world class, he out-of-this-world class!
“He is producing in all the big games too - Chelsea, Manchester City, Atletico Madrid, Manchester United.
“But, unfortunately for us, it's not just him who is a top, top player for Liverpool. It's a team. These top teams have wonderful individual players but they are also a unit and a team and we must try to deal with that.”
Brighton were one of the teams who inflicted six consecutive home defeats on Liverpool last season after Burnley had ended Jurgen Klopp’s side’s 68-game unbeaten run at Anfield in the Premier League but that was when matches were still being played behind closed doors and Potter admits their latest trip will be in very different circumstances.
He said: “Anything is possible of course, but it is the most challenging footballing environment there is.
“Anfield with a crowd is a completely different animal, I would suggest, than what it is without.
“You need everything pretty much to go your way if you want to try to get a result at Anfield.
“You have to be perfect yourselves, you have to be together, you have to be resilient and play at such a high level and then you have to hope that they have a bit of an off day as well. Because while we are in the same league, we are not at the same level as them.
“We can learn and use that experience last season but I would suggest we will have to step it up again.”
Meanwhile, Potter confirmed that Dan Burn will miss the game after the defender suffered a heavy fall and injured a knee during the Carabao Cup defeat at Leicester on Wednesday night but Yves Bissouma will be available following his substitute appearance in the cup after more than a month out with his own knee problem.
