Mohamed Salah, in the form of his life at 32, delivered another masterful performance, showing Omar Marmoush - who joined Manchester City this year - that he still has much to learn.

Salah’s goal and assist propelled Liverpool to a crucial 2-0 victory over City, extending their lead at the top of the table to 11 points over Arsenal. The Egyptian forward took his season tally to 30 goals before setting up Dominik Szoboszlai to double the lead before halftime.

Defending champions City, now 20 points adrift, struggled to cope without the injured Erling Haaland, and their defensive frailties were laid bare.

Marmoush, who scored a hat-trick in City’s 4-0 win over Newcastle last weekend, had a goal disallowed for offside after being played in by Phil Foden. The young Egyptian remained a lively presence, flashing another effort across Alisson Becker’s goal, but City failed to convert nearly 70 percent possession into meaningful chances.

At the other end, Salah was clinical. He opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a well-executed set-piece routine - Alexis Mac Allister’s corner was flicked on by Szoboszlai into Salah’s path, and his shot deflected off Nathan Ake past Ederson.

Salah then turned provider, racing onto a long ball before teeing up Szoboszlai to outfox Ederson and seal Liverpool’s win before the break.

Liverpool could have inflicted further damage after halftime. Curtis Jones had a goal ruled out by VAR for offside, Ederson denied Luis Diaz with a stunning save, and a last-ditch tackle from Abdukodir Khusanov prevented Szoboszlai from adding a second.

Despite suffering their eighth league defeat of the season, City remain fourth and are in a strong position to secure Champions League qualification, with a top-five finish likely to be enough.

But after four consecutive league titles, City look like yesterday’s team, while Liverpool, led by Salah’s brilliance, appear to be champions in waiting.

Records Salah broke against Man City:

• The first player in Premier League history to register 40+ goal involvements in two different seasons.

• The first player in Europe’s top five leagues to be directly involved in 50 goals across all competitions in 2024/25. 

• Salah has now scored and assisted in 11 Premier League games this season, the most by a player in a single season in one of Europe's big five leagues since Lionel Messi for Barcelona in 2014/15 (11). 

• Salah broke the record of most assists in a single season (16) to beat Steve McManaman's tally (15).

• Mo Salah is the first player to score 25+ goals and register 15+ assists in a Premier League season. 

(For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)

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