Arne Slot delivers Liverpool reality check after Premier League title snub
Liverpool boss Arne Slot was speaking ahead of the Reds' trip to Wolves on Saturday as he discussed their fine start to the season and early title predictions about rivals
by Chris McKenna · The MirrorArne Slot believes he won’t really know how good his Liverpool side are until they’ve played everyone in the Premier League at least once.
The Kop head coach reckons he will judge his Reds side after 19 games despite rave reviews to his start at the club. But the Dutchman is not bothered by everyone talking about the Premier League title race being between Manchester City and Arsenal.
Liverpool have lost just once in five games and sit a point behind City in the table ahead of Saturday's trip to Wolves.
But Slot isn’t getting carried away, pointing to the fact only Manchester United would be considered one of the top teams they’ve beaten so far. While they face Chelsea and Arsenal in succession in the Premier League after next month’s international break.
“I know how good we are but we still have to prove things when the fixtures are coming we all know after the international break then we go into tougher fixtures than we have now,” said the former Feyenoord coach.
“But one thing I 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 so there are no easy games in the Premier League. I know every manager says it but it is true.
“I think it is always difficult to judge the league table after five, six or seven games because if you look at Wolves they were really unlucky [with the fixture list] playing Arsenal, Newcastle, Chelsea and Villa - that is a different fixture list than the one we had. So I think the best way to judge the League table is after 19 games."
The strength throughout the league is the biggest difference Slot is facing at Liverpool compared to the Eredivisie.
He said: “If you work in the Eredivisie and you play a lower league team, take my final game with Feyenoord we played a lower team like Excelsior, a newly promoted club, and they didn't have one chance. They didn't arrive once close to the goal and Feyenoord were not even playing that well in that game.
“So with the Premier League with every team able to buy players for a lot of money, every team has a lot of quality and you can never feel that the game is yours.”
Last weekend’s battle at the Etihad had many salivating over the prospect of City and Arsenal going toe-to-toe but Slot is not concerned Liverpool’s name wasn’t on everyone’s lips.
City have taken 31 points more than the Reds over the last two season and that’s where Slot’s focus lies.
“I don't mind if they underestimate or overestimate us,” he said. “The situation is Manchester City, I think, have taken 30 or more points from us in the last two seasons. So that is the situation as it is and we're trying to close that gap.”
Alisson is set to return for Liverpool against Wolves to give boss Slot a big boost for the away trip.
The Kop No 1 missed last weekend’s win over Bournemouth with a hamstring injury. The Brazilian also sat out the midweek Carabao Cup win over West Ham, although it was unlikely he would have started that game anyways.
Caoimhin Kelleher stepped in and kept a clean sheet against the Cherries last weekend. But now Alisson is set to return between the sticks for the trip to Wolves on Saturday.
Slot said: “We think he is. He trained yesterday as part of our session with the group so we are expecting him to do the whole session today so we think he is available – but of course we have to train today.
“And of course we are really happy with Alisson being back but I want to emphasise that Caoimh did really well in the two games he played for us so another example of me having two, or I think even three, good options in in goal.”
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