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Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané both go into the match preparations against Burnley with goal-scoring records within reach.
Salah has scored 98 Premier League goals in his 159 appearances, and could join a very star-studded list should he reach a century of goals in his 160th league appearance. Only four players have scored 100 goals within their first 160 appearances in the competition: Alan Shearer (124 games), Harry Kane (141 games), Sergio Agüero (147 games) and Thierry Henry (160).
Meanwhile, Sadio Mané will be looking to score his 50th goal at Anfield in the Premier League on Saturday, which would be a strong statement of intent for this season as fans return to cheer on the Reds.
For his part, Roberto Firmino loves a game against Burnley: the forward has been involved in six goals in his last six Premier League appearances against the Clarets, scoring five and assisting one (including the opening goal in the last May 3-0 victory at Turf Moor).
Last season Diogo Jota was scoring at a rate of a goal per 143 minutes in all competitions for Liverpool (and a goal every 89.3 minutes for Portugal), form that suggests he might have notched the 20+ goals mark had he managed a season without injury.
Mané, Salah, and Firmino all scored on the opening matchday, and Salah certainly tried as hard as possible to get his mate Mané on the scoresheet as well.
While much has been made of Burnley having ended Liverpool’s home unbeaten run last season, it’s likely that the front four’s pure desire for goals will make a larger impact on the match than any urge for revenge.
What is nice to see, however, is the difficulty manager Jürgen Klopp must have in making his team selection: with all four players in form, there’s no easy way for the boss to choose the three to start — and that’s exactly what you want as a fan.
Whoever Klopp selects will hope to contribute to a Liverpool home win in front of fans — and may know that the Reds are just three goals shy of 150 goals against Burnley in all league games. The good news? There have only been three goalless draws in the clubs’ 88 league meetings, and the last one to occur at Anfield took place in 1920.