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Liverpool’s Klopp Banking on Salah to Resume Best Form

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side's second goal from a penalty shot during the Champions League Group A match between Liverpool and Rangers at Anfield stadium in Liverpool, England, Tuesday Oct. 4, 2022. (AP)
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side's second goal from a penalty shot during the Champions League Group A match between Liverpool and Rangers at Anfield stadium in Liverpool, England, Tuesday Oct. 4, 2022. (AP)
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Liverpool’s Klopp Banking on Salah to Resume Best Form

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side's second goal from a penalty shot during the Champions League Group A match between Liverpool and Rangers at Anfield stadium in Liverpool, England, Tuesday Oct. 4, 2022. (AP)
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side's second goal from a penalty shot during the Champions League Group A match between Liverpool and Rangers at Anfield stadium in Liverpool, England, Tuesday Oct. 4, 2022. (AP)

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said he hopes forward Mohamed Salah will soon rediscover his best goalscoring form following a slow start to his Premier League campaign.

Salah, who scored 23 league goals for Liverpool last season to share the Premier League golden boot with Son Heung-min, has failed to reach the heights he did in the previous campaign, having netted just two league goals.

Klopp said the Egyptian's poor form was not down to a lack of desire, adding that it was unfair to compare him to Manchester City's Erling Haaland, who scored his 15th league goal of the season on Saturday.

"I think with Mo (Salah) it's like with us, I hope we are close to exploding (with goals)" Klopp told reporters ahead of Liverpool's league trip to Arsenal. "Is it his season so far? No, like for all of us.

"Nobody in the world can cope with the (Erling) Haaland situation in the moment, it's crazy what he's doing. He's an exceptional player in an exceptional team ... and I don't think we should compare now in this moment anybody with that.

"(Salah) wants to score goals, definitely. Desperately, 100 per cent. That will never change. If you call him in 20 years, it will be the same."

Liverpool are 10th in the Premier League on 10 points after seven games. They play away to league leaders Arsenal on Sunday.

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Sabalenka in No Mood to Relax after Zheng’s Early Exit

This hand out picture released by the Tennis Australia on January 15, 2025 shows Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka speaks at a press conference after her women's singles match against Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne. (Vince Caligiuri/Tennis Australia / AFP)
This hand out picture released by the Tennis Australia on January 15, 2025 shows Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka speaks at a press conference after her women's singles match against Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne. (Vince Caligiuri/Tennis Australia / AFP)
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Sabalenka in No Mood to Relax after Zheng’s Early Exit

This hand out picture released by the Tennis Australia on January 15, 2025 shows Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka speaks at a press conference after her women's singles match against Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne. (Vince Caligiuri/Tennis Australia / AFP)
This hand out picture released by the Tennis Australia on January 15, 2025 shows Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka speaks at a press conference after her women's singles match against Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne. (Vince Caligiuri/Tennis Australia / AFP)

Aryna Sabalenka said early exits by big names at the Australian Open would not make her title defense any easier after the top seed saw one of her main title rivals go out in the second round with Zheng Qinwen's defeat by world number 97 Laura Siegemund.

Sabalenka sealed a battling 6-3 7-5 victory over Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro on Wednesday shortly before fifth seed Zheng, who lost to the Belarusian in last year's final, crashed out 7-6(3) 6-3.

Zheng's exit leaves Sabalenka with one less seed to worry about but the three-times Grand Slam champion said it made little difference in such a competitive field.

"Listen, it's a slam, you know? Not everyone can handle these emotions," Sabalenka told reporters.

"As you can see, there are so many players who are playing really well in these conditions. It's not like if they're gone, it's easy for me. No, it's not.

"I have to go there, I have to compete, I have to fight. Today's match proved that. Girls can go there and just play without any fear, without anything to lose.

"They can put you in really uncomfortable positions."

Sabalenka was feeling the pressure in her own match and trailed 5-2 at one point in the second set against Bouzas Maneiro, who stunned Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in the opening round at the All England Club last year.

"I definitely didn't want a third set. Who wants it? But at that moment I didn't really want to get bothered by that and let go of the set," said Sabalenka, who is bidding to become the first woman to win three successive titles at Melbourne Park since Martina Hingis from 1997-99.

"I told myself, 'OK, let's go play a third' and I somehow mentally prepared myself for that, tried to find my serve to not to give her too many chances.

"Then somehow it seemed to me that she got tense when it got to 5-3 and I felt there was an opportunity. I'm very glad that I managed to finish in two sets.

"I didn't really want to get too physically exhausted in the second round."

Up next for Sabalenka is Dane Clara Tauson, who won the Auckland title in the build-up to the Australian Open after Naomi Osaka retired injured.