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Ings: I’ve had a bet with Salah that I’ll score more goals..but I’m not stupid enough to put cash on it
DANNY INGS doubts he will win his wager with Mohamed Salah, but reckons it has already inspired his fast start to the season.
When Ings left Liverpool to join Southampton on loan Salah suggested a bet on which of them would end the campaign with more goals.
Considering Salah won the Golden Boot with 32 in the league last term while injuryhit Ings scored just once, it looks a tall order for the Saints new boy.
But the 26-year-old bagged his second in four games with the opener against a Crystal Palace team badly missing Wilfried Zaha, who suffered a groin strain in training on Friday.
That helped the visitors to their first league win of the season, with Pierre-emile Hojbjerg adding a second in stoppage time.
And Ings is ahead of Salah because although the Egyptian has also scored twice, he is not counting his opening-day strike, as Ings’s deadline day move meant he did not start for Southampton that day.
“He’s not going to have to buy me a car or anything if I win – although he can if he wants,” said Ings.
“He proposed the bet on messages when
I left.
“Hopefully we’ll both score plenty of goals. It would be incredible to beat him, wouldn’t it? I’m just working every day to improve.
“I’ve missed a lot of football. But, of course, it’s not a cash bet. I wouldn’t be stupid enough to put any cash on it. It’s just a bit of banter.
“People would think I’m mad to take on that bet if there was cash involved.
“I don’t have a goals target. I don’t want to limit myself on what I can achieve. As long as we’re winning I’m happy.”
Two major knee injuries and the form of the likes of Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino made opportunities, and goals, scarce for Ings at Anfield.
His former Reds team-mate Christian Benteke, who has not scored since April and missed a host of chances here, is another striker searching for goals.
But Ings said: “He will come through that. There aren’t many defenders who can beat him in the air. He’s such a dangerous striker even when he’s not scoring.”
Eagles boss Roy Hodgson (circle) knows he needs more from Benteke
– and hinted the Belgian could soon face the axe.
He said: “At the moment, we still consider him our best option. Of course, the moment may well come when we think, ‘Better do something about this’, and as we get players back fit like Wilf Zaha, the options become greater.”