The Premier League champions welcome last season’s runners-up Arsenal to Anfield on Sunday, with both sides looking to make an early statement in the title race.
Liverpool arrive in strong form after back-to-back victories. A 4-2 home win over Bournemouth was secured by Federico Chiesa and Mohamed Salah’s late goals, before Rio Ngumoha’s stunning 100th-minute strike gave the Reds a dramatic 3-2 triumph away at Newcastle on Monday night.
But despite the perfect start to the season, Arne Slot has cautioned against any sense of complacency. The Liverpool head coach insists last year’s title-winning campaign was far from the comfortable procession many now portray, and has stressed that his team must continue to evolve to stay ahead of rivals like Arsenal.
Liverpool clinched the league with four matches to spare and finished 10 points clear of Mikel Arteta’s side. Yet, Slot has reminded his squad of the hard work and fine margins behind that success. With Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitiké already added to the squad and potentially Alexander Isak before the transfer deadline he is determined to make the champions even stronger.
“The change [we need to make] is, and I tell it sometimes to the players as well, that not every game last season was Tottenham away [6-3] or West Ham away [5-0]. Always if you win something, everybody’s only looking back at some great attacks or some great wins, but the amount of times we struggled last season in a game of football was a lot.
Wolves, we didn’t even have a shot on target in the second half of a home game. Away, we won it lucky, though the penalty was correctly given.
I can go on and on and on – Crystal Palace away 1-0 when they had a big chance at the end. To romanticise last season as much as we do and sometimes we make this mistake inside the building as well, I mean the players is incorrect.”
Slot underlined that Liverpool’s triumph was built on narrow victories and determination, not domination
“Last season was, every single time, a struggle, most wins were only by one goal and we had to fight really hard for it. We said it last season 100 times, we didn’t win the league as Manchester City did it for so many years with every single game being 4-0 up at half-time. We had to fight really hard for it.
Then you start with Bournemouth at home, which is the most intense team of the league last season and playing only once a week, then Newcastle away, which was actually impossible to win there but we did, which is the biggest compliment I can give the players. It was unbelievable.”
And with Arsenal eager to avenge last year’s disappointment, Slot knows standards must rise again.
“We need to improve but we even had to improve compared to last season and we need to improve because the competition has improved. We have conceded two set-piece goals but we scored two, which some teams also do.”
Sunday’s meeting with Arsenal now offers the champions a chance to underline their strength against a major rival and to show that this season will require just as much grit as last year.
