Kyle Walker makes bold Mo Salah claim ahead of Man City clash at Anfield

Liverpool news: Walker would rather face Salah than one of his team mates (Image: GETTY)

KYLE WALKER has revealed he’d rather face Mo Salah all day long than play against his worst “nightmare” Sergio Aguero.

As the strike duo prepare to go head-to-head at Anfield today, Walker believes Aguero’s deadly seven-year scoring spree has made Manchester City the force they are.

The England defender said: “I’d rather mark Salah every day of the week. Having played against Aguero when I was at Tottenham, I can assure you he’s a complete nightmare to play against.

“You think he’s not interested in the game and all of a sudden it’s in the back of the net. He has that quality.

“He’s done it year in and year out. He is always up there scoring the most goals in the Premier League.

“He probably carried City for a lot of years with the goals he has scored.”

City boss Pep Guardiola reckons Kop star Salah can’t be compared to Aguero yet because he’s so far a one-season wonder.

The Egyptian, who scored an astonishing 44 goals for Liverpool last season, has three in 10 games this campaign – half his total at this stage a year ago, while Aguero is already on eight.

In all but one of his seven years at City, Aguero has scored 28 or more, peaking at 33 in 2016-17.

That consistency is why Guardiola reckons his man is still the goal king.

The City boss said: “Salah is younger. It was his first year back in

England since his time at Chelsea, so we will see in the future, but a guy who has the quality to score 50 goals in a season always has that quality.

“Football is all about ups and downs. Salah remains an excellent player and will score goals in the future. Sergio has scored a lot of goals but there were periods when he didn’t score.

“How many years has Sergio scored all those goals, eight or nine? For Salah it was the first one, so we will see in seven or eight years. Sergio’s huge value comes from being consistent over many, many years.

“It is about being consistent every three days for 11 months. The big, big players around Europe do that.”

Having whacked 10-man Liverpool 5-0 a year ago, Guardiola’s men lost the return at Anfield 4-3 before Jurgen Klopp’s side won both legs of their quarter-final tie in the Champions League.

And Walker revealed City want to smash that bogey-team tag. “Now we have to go to Anfield and put that to bed,” he said.

“There are loads of reasons why the games didn’t go our way. That’s a learning curve.

“They’ve got world-class forwards. If they do score, let’s not panic or try to rush. If you go to Anfield with fear you’re already fighting a losing battle.

“We have to quieten the crowd, which is always their twelfth man, and play our football.

“We’re the champions. We have a point to prove. We tore the Premier League apart by getting 100 points, scoring 103 goals and breaking records. We can’t rest on that now. The first thing we want is back-to-back titles – not many have done that.