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Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has warned Mohamed Salah's critics that their jibes will only inspire him to new heights in the title race.

The Reds midfielder believes the club's 17-goal top scorer has been unfairly accused of going to ground too easily to win penalties in recent weeks.

Salah was booed relentlessly by Brighton fans after scoring from the spot on Saturday – despite replays showing he was clearly fouled by Pascal Gross.

Former Reds striker Luis Suarez used to be spurred on by the stick he received at Premier League away grounds and Henderson says that Salah has a similar mindset.

“Yeah, Mo's the same,” Henderson said.

“He’s got this very strong mentality and I thought he was brilliant at Brighton.

“He will do things that some fans might not see that often but they should enjoy him because he is world class.

“It was a penalty, a clear penalty. There’s nothing to talk about that.

“In terms of Mo, I would think away grounds would be appreciative of what they see. The things he does, I’m sure he is a joy to watch.

“If they try to put pressure on him, they will only make him better. It won’t bother him. He’s so strong, I know he is.

“The more people are against him, the more he will want to prove them wrong. I’m not worried about that. When he goes to away grounds, people should appreciate him. He will do things that people want to see.”

Henderson believes Saturday's hard-fought win at Brighton showed that the belief in Jurgen Klopp's squad hadn't been dented by the defeats to Manchester City and Wolves.

A new year blip was ended as the Premier League leaders ground out a precious victory to strengthen their grip on top spot.

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“There are no doubts amongst ourselves. None. We have no need to lose confidence,” Henderson said.

“Look at the start of the season up until this point, we’re full of confidence and we are all together with a strong mentality.

“It was just a great opportunity for us to get three points. It’s that simple. We don’t have to go out and prove anything to anyone.

“All we have to keep doing is having the belief in ourselves to go and win games. We have done that all season, so why change?

“We will keep working in training and focus on what we need to do. Everyone else can talk about us losing games, we’ll just keep concentrating on ourselves. Let’s just take it game by game. We have got a lot of belief and we got the job done.”

With injuries heavily depleting Klopp's centre-back options, Fabinho played at the back alongside Virgil van Dijk. Henderson paid tribute to a rock-solid performance from the Brazil international.

“Fab stepped in at central defence and did a fantastic job,” he added.

“He obviously had Virgil helping him out and we had control of the ball so we didn’t have too much to do. What he did do, though, was brilliant. He’s a quality player and a big help for us.

“We knew it was going to be tough but defensively we were really solid. They are a good team and have picked up a lot of points at home. In the end we could have scored one or two more.”

Henderson was also part of Liverpool's last title challenge five years ago when they fell agonisingly short under Brendan Rogers during the run-in.

The skipper admits that the biggest difference now compared to then is defensive strength.

Klopp's men have conceded just 10 goals and kept 13 clean sheets in 22 league matches so far this term. At the same stage in 2013/14 they had leaked 28 goals.

"We are keeping a lot more clean sheets which is massive for us," Henderson said.

"If you want to win trophies, you have to do that and we need to keep this going until the end of the season. It is the biggest thing.

"We know every game now is going to become the biggest of the season. Next weekend against Crystal Palace will be the biggest game of the season.

"After that, Leicester will become the biggest game of the season. That’s how we will look at it. We are prepared for it and that’s how we will go all the way until the end."