Liverpool’s Salah eclipses Lampard, Rooney and Shearer to set Premier League record

After a goalless first half at Portman Road, the African teed up Diogo Jota on the hour mark for the Reds opener before finding the back of the net himself, beating goalkeeper Christian Walton.

With his strike, Salah has now become the most prolific opening-day goalscorer in English Premier League history with nine goals to his name.

The former Chelsea and Roma star now also holds the record for the player with the most goal involvements, 14, in the first match of a season.

Prior to Saturday’s outing, he was tied on eight goals alongside English football greats Frank Lampard, Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney. Incidentally, the outing was Salah’s 350th match for the Reds across all competitions since joining them in 2017 from the Italian Serie A.

To cap an impressive afternoon for the Anfield giants, Salah accounted for three shots on targets, one cross, two key passes, 33 passes and a passing accuracy of 75.8 %.

Defensively, the 32-year-old committed three fouls and would count himself lucky not to have been booked by referee Tim Robinson.

Thanks to this result, Liverpool continue their notable run against Ipswich. The Reds have never lost a league match at Portman Road (three wins and two draws), with their last visit a 6-0 win in February 2002.

On the other hand, the Tractor Boys saw their striking feat come to an end. They have stayed unbeaten in their opening league match of the season in each of the last 10 seasons (W6 D4) since losing 2-1 to Reading in the Championship in 2013-14.

Salah will be hoping to continue his scoring run when Liverpool host Brentford on August 25.