Arne Slot speaks on Liverpool’s chances of competing for the title as they are second on the table after 5 games.
Arne Slot believes Liverpool have yet to prove themselves Premier League title contenders despite the impressive start.
Since Tom Watson in 1896, Slot is the first manager or head coach of Liverpool to have six victories in his first seven games. Liverpool would set a club record by surrendering just one goal in their first six league games if they kept a clean sheet for a fifth time on Saturday at Wolves. Though the 46-year-old believes Alisson will recover from his muscle strain sustained at Molineux, he believes his start has been aided by a favourable match schedule and that it is too soon to call Liverpool contenders.
“I know how good we are but we still have to prove things,” said Slot, whose team have scored 18 goals in all competitions. “The fixtures that are coming after the international break [Chelsea, Arsenal, Brighton and Aston Villa] are tougher fixtures. But one thing I’ve noticed in the Premier League compared to the league I have come from is that every team has a few players who cost £40m-£50m and have a lot of quality. I know every manager says there are no easy games in the Premier League but it is true.
“It is always difficult to judge the league table after six or seven games. If you look at Wolves they were really unlucky playing Arsenal, Newcastle, Chelsea and Villa. That is a different fixture list than the one we had.”
Slot maintains that he doesn’t mind if Manchester City and Arsenal are depicted as competitors for the trophy. His main goal is to close the deficit after Liverpool’s two seasons of finishing 22 points and 9 points behind the champions, respectively.
“I don’t mind if they underestimate or overestimate us,” he said. “The situation is Manchester City have taken 31 points more than us in the last two seasons and we’re trying to close that gap. They came closer last season than the season before and now we are trying even harder to close the gap.”