How Mohamed Salah Compares to Liverpool's All-Time Single-Season Best
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah didn't have the best of games as the Red drew 2-2 against bottom club West Brom in the Premier League on Saturday, but he still scored his 41st goal of the season, a delicate chipped finish, and capped off the weekend by winning the PFA Players' Player of the Year, becoming only the second African recipient of the prestigious accolade.
A week earlier, Salah had scored his 40th goal of the season as Liverpool comfortably beat Bournemouth 3-0 at Anfield. In doing so, he became the first Liverpool player in 31 years to reach that huge milestone in a single season, matching Ian Rush's 40-goal tally from 1986/87.
Salah has surpassed that now, with Rush's 47-goal haul in 1983/84, the same season Liverpool beat Roma to win the European Cup, the club record the Egyptian is now gunning for. He needs seven more goals to break it and has at least five games (six if Liverpool reach the Champions League final) left in which to do it.
Roger Hunt, who scored 42 goals in the 1961/62 season when Liverpool were a second division club, is the only other player to have currently outscored Salah in 126 years of Reds history.
A World Cup winner with England in 1966, Hunt's goalscoring was not limited to the second tier and he often scored over 30 goals in a season. During two of those campaigns - 1963/64 and 1965/66 - Liverpool won the first division and were crowned champions. But he only hit 40 once.
South African-born Gordon Hodgson is a Liverpool legend of the 1920s and 1930s. He scored as many as 36 goals in 1930/31 season, while he had scored 32 in 1928/29.
A total of 36 is also the best tally that Robbie Fowler managed in a Liverpool shirt - doing that that in the 1995/96 campaign. The homegrown striker also scored 31 goals in 1994/95 and 1996/97 either side before injuries and the emergence of Michael Owen curtailed him.
Owen, incidentally, never scored more than 30 goals in a campaign. His best single season tallies came in 2001/02 and 2002/03, scoring 28 in each.
Before Salah, Fernando Torres was the previous benchmark for a Liverpool goalscorer in their debut season after he netted 33 times in all competitions in 2007/08 after joining from Atletico Madrid. Kenny Dalglish scored 31 times in his debut season for the club back in 1977/78.
Others who have scored 31 or more goals for Liverpool in a single season include Luis Suarez, John Aldrigde, Kevin Lewis, Billy Liddell and Sam Raybould.
Every Liverpool Player Who Has Scored 31 or More Goals in a Single Season:
Season | Player | Goals (All Competitions) |
1983/84 | Ian Rush | 47 |
1961/62 | Roger Hunt | 42 |
2017/18* | Mohamed Salah | 41 |
1986/87 | Ian Rush | 40 |
1964/65 | Roger Hunt | 37 |
1930/31 | Gordon Hodgson | 36 |
1995/96 | Robbie Fowler | 36 |
1954/55 | John Evans | 33 |
1963/64 | Roger Hunt | 33 |
1965/66 | Roger Hunt | 33 |
1985/86 | Ian Rush | 33 |
2007/08 | Fernando Torres | 33 |
1902/03 | Sam Raybould | 32 |
1928/29 | Gordon Hodgson | 32 |
1955/56 | Billy Liddell | 32 |
1960/61 | Kevin Lewis | 32 |
1977/78 | Kenny Dalglish | 31 |
1982/83 | Ian Rush | 31 |
1988/89 | John Aldridge | 31 |
1994/95 | Robbie Fowler | 31 |
1996/97 | Robbie Fowler | 31 |
2013/14 | Luis Suarez | 31 |
* season still ongoing
Italicsindicates Liverpool played season in second tier
Salah will continue to hunt Rush's record when Liverpool face Roma in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal at Anfield this week.
