Sadio Mane is enjoying the "easy" life with title hopefuls Liverpool because of the quality possessed by Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.

The Senegal star is Liverpool's leading Premier League scorer this season with seven goals and he has so far edged out his fellow Reds forwards in overall performance.

Statistics from Opta show Mane has played 21 key passes, compared to 14 from both Salah and Firmino, and his accuracy in finding team-mates across the whole pitch is also superior.

He has also won a greater number of tackles - Mane with 14, Firmino seven and Salah three - and made more interceptions (9-1-1).

But Mane says he is coping with the workload for the title front-runners thanks to considerable effort from Brazilian Firmino and Egyptian Salah.

"I always say it is very easy to work together," Mane told the official Liverpool FC magazine. "Personally, I just think myself very lucky to play alongside these great players.

"Every single player who plays alongside them would enjoy it because they are very good players and they make everything easy, so I just enjoy playing alongside them."

Mane believes the global language of football allows for fluency between Jurgen Klopp's prolific attackers.

"We are all from different countries and speak different first languages but I think football is one language and it is universal so everybody can speak it. It is the same with Mo, Bobby and myself," he added.

Liverpool face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park next Saturday in their next Premier League assignment, before taking on Napoli in the Champions League on the following Wednesday.

The club have announced the death of a player who captained Liverpool in the old Second Division in the 1958-59 season.

Johnny Wheeler died at the age of 91, Liverpool said. The midfielder made 177 appearances for the club and also played for Tranmere and Bolton, winning one England cap.