Why Mohamed Salah, Hugo Ekitike Aren’t Starting for Liverpool vs. Tottenham

Liverpool have a packed schedule ahead of them before March’s international break.

Arne Slot has given in to public demands. | Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Getty Images

Arne Slot has invited the wrath of Mohamed Salah by dropping Liverpool’s waning forward for the visit of Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon. Leading scorer Hugo Ekitiké and first-choice center back Ibrahima Konaté also figured on the bench amid five changes from the Champions League defeat to Galatasaray.

Salah very publicly fell out with Slot in December after he was dropped to the bench for three games in succession. The team’s perennial top scorer claimed to have been “thrown under the bus” and argued: “I don’t have to go every day fighting for my position because I earned it.”

Slot was ultimately forced to drop Salah entirely from the squad for a Champions League trip to Inter Milan before a series of peace talks saw him reintegrated into the team. Since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt, Salah had started all 12 of Liverpool’s matches. Until Sunday.

Mohamed Salah (left) and Hugo Ekitiké (right) were both left out. | Paul ELLIS / AFP/Getty Images

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Liverpool’s Confirmed XI vs. Tottenham

Starting XI (4-2-3-1: Alisson; Dominik Szoboszlai, Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson; Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister; Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz, Rio Ngumoha; Cody Gakpo.

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Arne Slot Answers the Court of Public Opinion

Rio Ngumoha. The boy is special. pic.twitter.com/VpBAd7bWRy

— Sports Illustrated FC (@SI_FootballClub) March 6, 2026

Following an initial burst of creativity, Salah’s attacking output has dried up recently. The 33-year-old endured one of his most inept performances of the season against Galatasaray as Liverpool’s entire right flank floundered in Istanbul.

During his 60 minutes on the pitch, Salah took just one touch inside Gala’s penalty box and failed to have a single shot. The reigning Premier League Golden Boot holder also drew a blank against Nottingham Forest last month, struggling along with the rest of his Liverpool teammates to find any sort of sustained attacking rhythm.

Slot’s insistence on sticking by Salah drew increasing levels of scrutiny chiefly because there was such an obvious option waiting in the wings: Rio Ngumoha. While Ekitiké has no obvious center forward replacement in the absence of Alexander Isak and Konaté has been rested in place of the injury-prone Joe Gomez, Salah’s spot has gone to one of the few bright spots in an otherwise overcast Liverpool campaign.

Ngumoha’s zesty attacking style has caught the eye since his energetic cameo off the bench against Nottingham Forest in February. Over the subsequent three weeks, Liverpool legends like Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard have tripped over themselves in their calls to put the 17-year-old in the starting XI.

Wary of overloading the teenage starlet, Slot has been sparing with his minutes. However, needs must and Ngumoha was given a start against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup last Friday. The former Chelsea academy gem watched the Champions League defeat to Galatasaray from the bench before being handed the first Premier League start of his senior career.

Slot had warned this was in the post. In his preview of Tottenham’s visit, he noted: “Rio is a player who could start for us. He’s been coming in for longer spells. He’s definitely an option to start one of the three games in the coming week.”

He subsequently told Sky Sports in his pregame interview: “Why now? He started training this season and he’s improving, his game time has gone up and the next step is starting.”

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Liverpool’s Strikerless Forward Line

Liverpool were well below their best against Galatasaray. | Hakan Akgun/Anadolu/Getty Images

It appears as though the only player Slot is willing to play every minute of every game all season is Virgil van Dijk. Quite how successful that approach has proven to be is very much up for debate—and the knock-on effects of this relentless schedule (plus this summer’s World Cup) will play out next season.

However, Ekitiké is not impervious to a spot on the bench. Liverpool’s only senior striker in the absence of Isak has forced Slot into some creative solutions when unavailable.

The Dutch boss has experimented with Cody Gakpo, Florian Wirtz and Dominik Szoboszlai in false nine roles this season. All three made the starting XI against Spurs to form a fluid front four with Ngumoha while also giving Ekitiké some much-needed respite.

Liverpool are back in action against Galatasaray on Wednesday before traveling to Brighton in the Premier League just three days later.

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