By Dominic King for the Daily Mail
Published: 22:30 BST, 15 April 2019 | Updated: 23:28 BST, 15 April 2019
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There is a running joke with Mohamed Salah after every Liverpool home game that involves requests for interviews.
He only stopped once to speak to the written media in his first season at Anfield, fulfilling a promise after he had reached 40 goals.
This season the uniform response to requests for a few minutes of his time has been a mischievous smile and a reply of: 'When I get to 40!'
Mohamed Salah (left) scored a stunning goal as Liverpool beat his former club Chelsea 2-0
Salah's 30-yard strike gave Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga no chance at Anfield on Sunday
Liverpool star Salah cupped his ears after scoring against Chelsea in the Premier League
Breaking the 40 barrier was magical but was also a problem. Those standards were always going to be impossible to maintain, yet some expected more of the same.
It would not be wrong to suggest he has tried too hard at times this season to live up to expectations.
Some days it led to him being on the periphery; others it led to him making wrong decisions on the ball. Games at Old Trafford, Goodison Park and Craven Cottage come to mind when it looked like Salah was tying himself in knots.
Not any longer. Salah, once again, is playing with liberation and certainty and the turning point that led to the blockbuster shot that ripped into Chelsea's net came in the final minute of a remarkable afternoon against Tottenham.
That game had been going as many had done since his last goal on February 9 against Bournemouth. He floated about, ran down cul-de-sacs, failed to play in Sadio Mane on two occasions and left his
