I WAS WRONG

UNAI EMERY admits Mohamed Salah has proved him wrong for once doubting whether the Liverpool star could hack it at a top club.

The Arsenal boss once considered signing Salah from Roma when he was in charge of Paris Saint-Germain but wasn’t sure the Egyptian was good enough.

Now he faces him for the second time this season, insisting the Reds star (above, right) has become one of the top five players on the planet.

Emery (above) said: “We spoke about the possibility to sign Salah for PSG when he was playing at Roma. We had some doubts – and then he signed for Liverpool and those doubts are no more. “Now, if you are speaking about the five top players in the world, one is Salah.” Salah, a £36.9million signing from Roma, won the Footballer of the Year award last season after smashing 32 goals in the Premier League. And he goes into today’s showdown with the Gunners at Anfield with only Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang having scored more than his 12 league goals this season.

But Emery believes it’s at the back where Jurgen Klopp’s men have improved most – and he reckons that makes them favourites for the title.

Emery, whose Arsenal team were the last to take points off Liverpool (in early November), said: “Three years ago they had a problem in their defensive moments and bought some people – for example Virgil van Dijk. The result is we are looking at them today and they are strong defensively. They improved a lot when they bought Salah and now offensively they are a very big team.

“The leaders in the table are Liverpool and it is because they are doing things very well. They are established with Klopp in

Pthis process. The first year he arrived in the Premier League they had some injuries and difficulties but he has been given time to improve them to where they are today.

“For us it is a good example but also a good test – to see what the difference is between them and us. They are unbeaten, with many great performances behind them both as a team and individually. We need this test.”

Emery said he was surprised that Liverpool have opened up a six-point gap at the top of the table in such a short time.

“It is a very big surprise how Manchester City lost their two last matches while Liverpool have kept on winning,” he said.

“The first competition for us and for many teams is the Premier League and now, with 19 matches for every team, they have shown us they are stronger than the others.”

WDLF