Salah certain pressure won’t rock Reds
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,” eh, nd. own Mohamed Salah is in no doubt Liverpool can handle the pressure of the title run-in, ahead of their crunch clash against arch-rivals Manchester United tomorrow.
The Reds lie second in the Premier League table to Manchester City on goal difference, though they have a game in hand.
It was barely a month ago that they enjoyed a seven-point lead over the Abu Dhabi- owned club, but draws against Leicester and West Ham raised fears that Liverpool were starting to feel the strain of bidding for a first top-flight title since 1990.
But Salah has sought to put fans’ fears at ease, claiming the Reds are ready to embrace the pressure, starting at Anfield against familiar foe United.
“I said in November that there is pressure and it will be there until It’s not no really that easy to mak make those winners again against her.”
Wh While she has not consistently displa displayed her A-game this wee week it should come as no shock sh that Kvitova has made today’s final. It was the se second seed’s 17th victory of 2019 — a feat bettered b by no one — and it will be her h third final of the season and 35th of her career. She r revealed that her presence in the showdown is thanks t to her mental the end of the season, because when you play for the Premier League you have to accept that there is pressure,” Salah told Sky Sports.
“When you go home you can take it with you, but it can help you to work harder and focus on your game.
“At the end of the day you have a target in your mind, you have a dream, you want to win the toughness and she admitted that after a long week she will have to draw on that a lot today.
“I think I’m pleased with my kind of mental focus after losing the first set, that I was more calmer when I came back and played from the beginning of the second set,” Kvitova said.
“I still kind of felt that I can do that somehow — it was something weird.
“I’m a bit tired right now, to be honest. I have a final, so I don’t know how I am going to recover. Hopefully I have a few hours to do something with me.” Premier League. I even said that two years ago when I came — it is a dream to win the Premier League.”
Salah said it was natural for players at the highest level to feel the heat of a tough title race.
“You can feel it because you’re still a human being,” the Egypt international said.
“For me it’s not a big deal if I win a game now or three weeks ago. I want to win each game, but for myself I said we’re playing for the Premier League, so there’s pressure.”
Added to the pressure of trying to win the title is the fact that a clash against Manchester United is like nothing else the Reds come up against all season. The two teams are arch-rivals and Salah is only too aware that their North West neighbors would like nothing more than to ruin the Reds’ title charge.
The United encounter is the
Of her sparkling form so far this year she said: “It’s a bit weird, to be honest. I didn’t really expect anything like that. Well, to be honest, I didn’t expect anything, which I already achieved this year. For me, everything is just bonus.
“As I mentioned, the tennis, it’s a bit like escape this week. This is unbelievable to be in the final when I’m escaping from something. Yeah, very interesting.”
In the other semifinal Bencic once again upset the odds to overcome world No. 6 Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-3, 7-6. The Swiss went into the clash as the underdog, but from the off the world No. 45 was aggressive and deservedly won.
In doing so she ended Svitolina’s 12-match winning streak in Dubai and ended the two-time defending champion’s hopes of becoming the first woman to win three Dubai titles in a row. first of three tough fixtures in a week for Liverpool, with a midweek clash with Watford and the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park on Sunday to come — a run of games that is not lost on Salah.
“It is a very big week for us,” Salah said.
“And if we win three games and are top of the table, that is huge for us. When you have three games in a week or ten days, you just need to win, win, win, then after that you have time to think.
“Even when we are not top of the league, I know how much United want to win against Liverpool and Everton the same. For me it is not a big deal. We just need to do what we have been doing for the last couple of months.”