Mohamed Salah said a conclusion to his contract situation was still “far away” after his latest star showing for Liverpool in their 5-0 victory at West Ham.

The Egypt forward, who is out of contract at the end of the season, scored one goal and set up two others in the win that put the Reds eight points clear at the top of the Premier League.

Asked afterwards if he was hoping to be able to give some good news soon with regard to his contract, Salah told Sky Sports: “No, we are far away from that.

“I don’t want to put something in the media and people start saying stuff, but nothing really moved on.

“But now I’m focused on the team, hopefully we win the Premier League.”

Salah, scorer of 17 goals 18 league appearances this season, as well as producing 13 assists, was also asked about individual targets, and said: “The only thing on my mind is I want Liverpool to win the league and I just want to be part of that.

“That’s the only thing I’ve really focused on since the beginning of the season. So I will do my best for the team to win a trophy.

“We are in the right direction, but of course there are a few other teams that really try to catch up with us, very good teams. We just need to stay focused and humble and work hard, and just go again.”

Liverpool boss Arne Slot was questioned on Salah’s contract situation as well, and said about things changing in January “not on the inside, but on the outside it definitely does, because probably people talk even more about it”.

Trent Alexander-Arnold – another goalscorer against the Hammers – and Virgil van Dijk are also out of contract next summer, and regarding the former, Slot said: “I don’t think it’s negative (around him) at all.

“He’s playing really well, scored a great goal and the way he celebrated his goal probably tells you enough. So I don’t think I have to say much more about it – I’m really happy with Trent, just as happy as I am with Mo and Virgil. So for me there’s no difference.

“For the outside world maybe there’s a bit more things happening around Trent in the media than with the other two, but I’m happy with all three of them at the moment.”

Slot also said Joe Gomez was set to be sidelined for “quite a bit” after coming off with a hamstring issue.

The Dutchman said: “If a player says he wants to stop, he has to be changed, in a sprint, then we all know it’s a hamstring and we all know it’s going to take a while before he’s going to be back. I don’t know how long but he will be out for quite a bit.”