2 weeks Ago By The Straits Times
LONDON – Arne Slot says his Liverpool team are “matching his expectations” after their flying start to the season as he prepares for a tough test against Arsenal on Oct 27. The Reds have seven wins in their first eight matches and have won all three of their Champions League games. Now, Slot will take his side to the Emirates with the chance to move seven points clear of the Gunners in the title race.
But the Dutchman said he was expecting a difficult match against Mikel Arteta’s men, even if they are missing key players. “If you look at the last two seasons, Arsenal were far ahead of us, and also above Chelsea (whom Liverpool beat 2-1 last week),” he said on Oct 25. “So you would assume that playing Arsenal would be even more difficult, but let’s see at the end of the season where Chelsea and Arsenal both are.
“Normally you would expect, especially because it’s also an away game, that this one is even more difficult than Chelsea at home, and we all saw how difficult Chelsea at home was.” Last season, Liverpool took just three points from their four games against champions Manchester City and Arsenal, who finished second. “We all know that taking points from your competitors (is crucial), and nobody knows in this early stage who is going to be your biggest competitor, but I think we all know that Arsenal will be one of them,” added Slot.
The 46-year-old, who is in his first season at Anfield after taking over from Jurgen Klopp, was also asked whether he was meeting the targets he had set himself. “It wasn’t like I was on my holiday thinking, ‘OK, after 10 games how many points do I want to have?’,” he said. “No, the only thing I was thinking of was how am I going to try to bring the best out of this team that has been done for so long by Jurgen, and how can we continue that.
.. and you don’t think about points.
“I didn’t have expectations coming in when it comes to the amount of points. But there were expectations from me the way I wanted to see the team playing, and I think that is matching my expectations at the moment.” Injured forward Diogo Jota will miss the trip to London while goalkeeper Alisson Becker remains out of action.
Arsenal, meanwhile, go into the game with plenty of injury doubts, but Arteta remains confident that his squad is good enough to recover ground in the standings. Bukayo Saka, Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber are all injury worries, while Martin Odegaard is still unavailable. William Saliba is suspended after his red card in last weekend’s loss at Bournemouth, Arsenal’s first defeat this season, but Arteta remains upbeat despite the difficulties.
“Obviously we didn’t want to be in this situation, but we are really lucky to have the players that we have, to have the squad that we have, to have the attitude that we have,” the Spaniard said. “When it comes down to reacting to a difficult situation, we don’t feel sorry for ourselves, we face it. We are a team that knows how good we are and how difficult we can be for opponents.
“We are so energised, the atmosphere will be tremendous and we are really looking forward to the game.” Saka has not played since picking up an injury while on England duty earlier in October, while Calafiori was injured during the 1-0 Champions League win over Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek and Timber has missed three games. On facing Liverpool, Arteta added: “They are in a really good moment and you can see the touch that he (Slot) has given to a team that was already very strong.
You can see his fingerprints on that team. “It is a team that has been competing at the highest level for nine years in every competition. We are excited about it, it’s a big opportunity.
We love these kinds of matches at the Emirates.” AFP, REUTERS.
