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Michael Owen: 'Sadio Mane staying on feet to stop Mohamed Salah scoring penalties'

Michael Owen accuses Sadio Mane of not being a team player for Liverpool after staying on his feet under contract from Andreas Christensen against Chelsea.

Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen has suggested that Sadio Mane avoids winning penalties through fear that Mohamed Salah will score from the spot.

Mane stayed on his feet despite contact from Andreas Christensen in Liverpool's 1-0 loss to Chelsea on Thursday evening.

Owen felt that the Senegal international could have earned his side a spot kick by going to ground, but he decided not to in the knowledge that Salah would take the resulting pen.

"I couldn't believe he didn't go down there and look, I'm not advocating he does," Owen told Optus Sport. "It was a great touch and he possibly thought he might get a chance at the end of it, but he did something similar a week ago [against Sheffield United].

"I just wonder, and it might be a little bit of devious thoughts creeping into my head, Mo Salah is the penalty taker in this team, and if [Mane] thinks he's getting a chance to score he thinks, "well I'm going to score, if I don't stay on my feet, Mo Salah's going to get another penalty.

"These players have been going for the Golden Boot for the past couple of seasons. It might be a wild sort of theory, but the competitive nature of him and Mo Salah... we've seen them not passing to each other when one of them is in a much better position to the other.

"We're seeing a little bit of selfishness, we're seeing a little bit of disgruntled behaviour - Mo Salah shaking his head [when he was subbed off]. I just think a couple of times there, I've seen Mane go down for those kind of opportunities... and [to not do it] two games on the spin? It just made me think a little bit."

Salah leads the way at the top of the Premier League scoring charts this season with 17 goals, 10 more than teammate Mane.

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3Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest10541147719
4Chelsea105322012818
5Arsenal105321711618
6Aston Villa105321715218
7Tottenham HotspurSpurs1051422111116
8Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton104421714316
9Fulham104331413115
10Bournemouth104331312115
11Newcastle UnitedNewcastle104331010015
12Brentford104151920-113
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd10334912-312
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham103251319-611
15Leicester CityLeicester102441418-410
16Everton102351017-79
17Crystal Palace10145813-57
18Ipswich TownIpswich100551021-115
19Southampton10118719-124
20Wolverhampton WanderersWolves100371427-133


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