Magnificent Mo Salah is posting Lionel Messi-like numbers - but will second Premier League title dream be undone by Liverpool's leaky defence and lack of a No.9?

Liverpool's 2-2 draw with Villa provoked an awful lot of uncomfortable questions for the visitors, chief among them: where would the Reds be without Salah? The answer is, nowhere near the top of the table.

Salah is seemingly on a one-man mission to win a second Premier League title for Liverpool. Slot acknowledged as much in his post-match press conference at Villa Park, but was keen to stress that others were playing their part. "It's not only him," the Reds boss said. "I think I could not have asked more today from all the players tonight, they worked so incredibly hard."

It certainly would have been hard to fault them for effort, but Slot also needs more decisive displays to go with that desire - because Salah is carrying more than his fair share of the load at the moment. The winger's 24 goals and 15 assists have been worth 31 points to Liverpool this season - the most by a player across a single campaign since Jamie Vardy for Leicester City in 2015-16 (32).

Put quite simply, there is no more impactful player in England's top flight (or the world) right now, and we're literally looking at history in the making here. Salah is topping both the Premier League's goals and assists charts - not since the great Thierry Henry have we seen such levels of all-round excellence and productivity. However, there's no guarantee that it will be enough to win Liverpool the title.

Slot's side were outstanding during the first half of the season. Even if there was always the acknowledgement that their almost-flawless results were utterly unsustainable, the majority of the squad were performing at a very high level. That's no longer the case, though.

There has been an undeniable and alarming drop in intensity since the turn of the year, resulting in Liverpool failing to win half of their 14 matches in all competitions in 2025 so far.

There are mitigating circumstances, of course. Slot rotated heavily for the Champions League dead rubber against PSV and the FA Cup fourth-round clash with Plymouth Argyle, but the fact that both games were lost highlighted a problem: certain players simply cannot be rested (Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch etc.).

If they are, the dip in performance level is dramatic, and that means that the key men need to play in every game - which is obviously impossible in the modern era. Workloads simply have to be managed wisely in order to reduce the risk of injury - and the Villa game was a case in point.

Slot's decision to withdraw both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota just after the hour mark astounded many supporters - but he explained afterwards that he effectively had no choice. He wanted to protect two players who had only just returned from injury - particularly with Liverpool right in the middle of a gruelling run of five Premier League fixtures in just 15 days. The issue, of course, is that the substitutions negatively impacted his team's performance.

Alexander-Arnold, as if anyone needs reminding, had just drawn Liverpool level, and while Jota had been guilty of a dreadful miss earlier in the game, he had set up Salah for the game's opener, and there's surely not a football fan anywhere in the world that does not believe that the Portuguese would have buried the open-goal chance his replacement, Nunez, absolutely butchered just moments after coming on?

Nunez's form - and related mental state - is a major problem for Liverpool. Given Jota can't be relied upon to stay fit, and has to be carefully managed even when he is available, Slot really could have done with Nunez proving at least an adequate alternative at No.9.

However, the Uruguayan has regressed horribly during his third (and no doubt final) season at Anfield, and his match-winning double at Brentford on January 18 remain his only goals in the league since November.

Perhaps even more worryingly, his shocking miss against Villa clearly took a heavy toll on him, psychologically, as he was absolutely atrocious in every aspect of his game during one of the worst cameos ever seen from a Liverpool substitute. Indeed, it's no exaggeration to say that the Reds effectively played with 10 men for the final 20 minutes.

"I can accept every miss, especially from a player that has scored two very important goals against Brentford," Slot said on Thursday. "But what was a bit harder for me to accept was his behaviour after that chance. And by 'behaviour', I mean I think it got too much in his head and he wasn't the usual Darwin that works his ass off and makes sure he helps the team. I think he was too disappointed after missing that chance."

Nunez took to social media the day after the draw to declare his intention to continue fighting for the cause, which is at least somewhat encouraging, as Liverpool can't afford any passengers at this delicate stage of the season. As Slot pointed out ahead of Sunday's trip to the Etihad to face Manchester City, the Reds need every single member of the squad to embrace a Wataru Endo-esque attitude for the next few months.

"He just keeps on going, keeps on going and whenever we need him, he is ready," the former Feyenoord coach said of the versatile Japan midfielder. "And that is difficult because there are not many players that can do this."

Salah certainly has a similar mindset and, luckily for Liverpool, is showing no signs of slowing up. His frustration, though, has become increasingly obvious in recent weeks.

Salah looked just as forlorn at the full-time whistle at Villa Park as he had done after the 2-2 draw with Everton at Goodison Park seven days previously (another game in which he had both scored and assisted). On both occasions, Liverpool had failed to hold onto a lead given to them by the winger, and the lack of solidity has become a serious cause for concern among supporters.

Since beating City 2-0 at Anfield at the start of December with the kind of complete performance we've rarely seen in the interim, the Reds have kept just three clean sheets in 13 games. Liverpool are effectively suffering from the same defensive deficiencies that ultimately undermined last season's title bid.

Clearly, there are issues in midfield, with Slot's team no longer controlling games as before. The strategy since the start of the season has been to effectively attempt to anaesthetise opponents by starving of the ball - but it's Liverpool who are now looking listless and leggy because of incredibly congested fixture list (attaching some importance to the Carabao Cup could prove costly for the third time in four years!).

However, there's no getting away from the fact that the back four are brittle and cracking under the application of very little pressure. Villa had just three shots during the first half on Wednesday, yet they scored with two of them. Liverpool's inability to deal with set-pieces is deeply troubling and the sheer amount of time and space Villa's players were afforded on the Ollie Watkins goal was absolutely astounding.

It has to be acknowledged that Liverpool remain in a very strong position. Despite having played one game more, they’re still eight points clear of a closest title challenger devoid of any orthodox strikers. Furthermore, victory at City on Sunday would change the whole atmosphere around the team going into another big game, at home to Newcastle on Wednesday.

However, Liverpool cannot afford to once again rely solely on Salah to get them over the line. The Egyptian's history-making heroics weren't enough at Goodison. Or at Villa Park. They won't be enough at the Etihad either unless this one-man mission becomes a collective effort once again.