Arne Slot Previews Premier League Clash Against Arsenal | Press Conference

Liverpool boss, Arne Slot, has his say on the upcoming Premier League clash with third place, Arsenal

RB Leipzig - FC Liverpool, Trainer Arne Slot (Liverpool) / IMAGO / Matthias Koch

Liverpool have 11 wins from 12 so far this season, and Arne Slot is looking to take points from a rival this Sunday with a trip to London to face Mikel Arteta's Arsenal. In his press conference today, the Reds boss provided fitness updates, thoughts on expectations and how important it is to take points off direct rivals.

On how tough he expects Arsenal to be this weekend:

'I said before the game and after the game that I expect a lot from Chelsea this season, and I think they showed it also last Sunday at Anfield. They are a similar team to Arsenal when it comes to playing style, they also like to go with their full-back inside and come into the same formation as Arsenal. But if you look at the last two seasons, Arsenal were far ahead of us but also above Chelsea, so you would assume that playing Arsenal would even be more difficult. But let’s see at the end of the season where Chelsea and Arsenal both are. But normally you would expect, because it’s also an away game, that this one is even more difficult than Chelsea at home and we all see how difficult Chelsea at home was.'

When asked how much of a 'statement' win it would be if Liverpool leave London with a victory:

'We all know that taking points from your competitor [is important]. And nobody knows in this early stage who is going to be your competitor or your biggest competitor, but I think we all know that Arsenal will be one of them and then dropping points against them or winning points against them, that is always important. So, you’re right, I think it was three draws and one loss [against Arsenal and Manchester City] last season so if you use simple mathematics, if Liverpool could have won all three of them I think the league table would have been a bit different. It’s difficult to win an away leg against Arsenal, City or all the other ones but it’s something we are trying on Sunday definitely.'

Slot was asked about how excited he is to get involved in games like this, and how he manages matches of this importance:

'In the life of a manager – and I’m talking about a manager, I don’t know how it is for the players – the excitement is for 10 to 15 minutes after the game, when you’re still on the pitch. You walk off it and then you already start to think, ‘OK, what am I going to say to the players next when they all come in?’ And then afterwards you go to the press conference and then your focus is already on the next game. So the excitement for a manager is maybe 10 to 15 minutes after good results. But it’s a very nice fixture to be in, that’s clear. But there are many, many nice fixtures to be in and Arsenal away is one of them.'

When asked about how his expectations on Liverpool's start compared to his own, and the actual performance of the team:

'It’s not that if I start the season I have targets to how many points you want to have after a certain amount of games. It is what I just said about the joy you have after a game is 10 to 15 minutes, and that’s also the way I look at the fixture list. So it’s always the next one you try to prepare and not looking too far ahead because that’s of no use in football. You don’t go into a season thinking, ‘After 10 games I want to have so many points.’ No, the only thing you want is your team in the best possible way and to prepare the team in the best possible way. For that, you have your training sessions, your team meetings and there is where your main focus is and not so much into how many points and where we exactly are. It’s just trying to improve every single day and that’s what we’re trying now. And that’s also what’s needed, because teams around us do the same.'

The Reds defensive work rate was queried, and how games like Leipzig and Chelsea can show how good we are defensively:

'I think you say it in the right way, there are two reasons why we don’t concede a lot. One of them is that most games – almost all of them, maybe except for one – we dominated and controlled that for large parts of the game. It helps if you dominate, if you have the ball, in order that you then can’t concede. But I also like that if we have difficult parts of the game or for a large part of the game like we had against Chelsea, that the work-rate is incredible not to concede. And that is something that’s very important. If you combine that with having the likes of Virgil [van Dijk] and Ibou [Konate] and the two goalkeepers we’ve used until now, that is probably one of the reasons – these three elements – why we haven’t conceded that much. And then to be aware of the fact that we also have Jarell Quansah and Joe Gomez, we are in a good place when it comes to centre-backs. And goalkeeper speaks for itself I think.'

When asked about the difficulty of playing three away games consecutively:

'That’s part of our lives [and] that’s also what the players are used to. If they play Champions League or, like last season, Europa League, you know these challenges are there. You also know they are experienced in this, how to take care of their body, what to do immediately after the game and in the days after to prepare themselves in the best possible way. For this game, we have three days in between, so that’s more than we had before the Leipzig game. It’s also more than we have for the Brighton game. Unfortunately for us, for all these three games we have one day less in recovery than the three teams we face, but that is also part of a season and part of our lives. I think these players are experienced enough and they get the help of a fantastic staff to be in the best possible way physically prepared for the game. It’s my job also to prepare them in a tactical way as well.'

A worry from the previous two games was conceding chances late while only holding a one-goal lead, Slot addressed this:

'I think every game has its own story. So, the Leipzig game, I just said about the difference in the period of rest we had in between the games. That could be a factor where Leipzig were, in the end of the game, a bit better than we were. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it, but it could. I think when I look at the Crystal Palace game it was one or two transition moments where we were still, in my opinion, dominating the game but we were a bit unlucky or we didn’t we have the rest [of the] defensive [set-up] good enough in order to concede, combined with some set-pieces. I think the last chance Chelsea got was also from a set-piece.

'I liked the last six minutes of injury time we had at Leipzig, where we constantly had the ball, controlled it and those moments were not difficult. Also, in the Leipzig game, the first chance they had in the last 10 to 15 minutes was from a second-phase set-piece. Also, you concede a set-piece if the other team is a bit stronger than you at the moment. No, I am not worried but I prefer to see that we dominate until the end of the game. It is also good to see that if we have to defend that we have a team that defends with 11, with two outstanding centre-backs and a goalkeeper that makes saves as well.'

Arne also provided updated on some injury concerns before our trip South to face the Gunners:

'I think they feel good but not when it comes to playing for us during the weekend.

'Federico might train with us today or tomorrow – but Diogo definitely not. And Conor Bradley, let's see if he can be with us tomorrow.'

He followed up later on when discussing Alisson Becker:

'He's progressing well, like we expect," Slot said. "But it's not a short-term recovery.

'It's always difficult to judge him. I think the best way to judge an injury is in the end of an injury, the end phase of his rehab, and he's not there yet.

'I can't tell you how much longer he will be out, but don't expect him to be in against Brighton in the cup or next week.'

All set then for an exciting match up between first place Liverpool and third place Arsenal!