Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has acknowledged the daunting challenge his side faces following a hard-fought victory over Southampton .
The Dutchman’s side have been in the spotlight in recent weeks as they entered their toughest period yet. However the Reds have shown their quality time and time again, picking up points in all of their Premier League and Champions League fixtures as well as sailing through to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
However next week will probably be the most difficult week in Slot’s tenure so far as his side face the current European Champions Real Madrid just four days before the Reds play the current Premier League champions Manchester City.
Both City and Madrid have had tough runs of form in recent weeks with Carlo Ancelotti’s side suffering defeat in El Clasico and finding themselves 18th in the Champions League table. While Pep Guardiola’s side extended the worst losing run of Pep Guardiola’s managerial career to five games after losing 4-0 to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
However, the Liverpool boss is under no illusions about the task ahead but is grateful that his side have the home advantage. “These two teams have dominated European football over the last 4-5 years, where Liverpool was close but Real Madrid and City were so you could not wish for more to play these teams in the coming week at home” Slot told the BBC .
The Reds are dominating both domestically and in Europe with Liverpool sitting eight points clear in the Premier League as well as topping the Champions League table. However, Slot is warning fans not to get too carried away.
“It’s a healthy advantage but we also know what we had to put into it to get this lead and to get these wins” says Slot “ And I only have to show the players there were maybe one or two games for us that were wins by a big margin, but the rest of them were all by small margins.
“I think it was last year, even later on in the season, that Arsenal led by eight points and City came back (to win the title). You know if you face Arsenal, City, Chelsea and all these other teams – Tottenham were great yesterday as well – they are all able to win so many games in a row. So it’s nice to have this position, but we are definitely not getting carried away.”
Slot also says Liverpool was made to work harder for the points than he would have liked ahead of the upcoming European clash: “It’s very hard for English teams to do well in Europe, because there’s no team in the Premier League that doesn’t cause big problems. This league asks a lot from every player every weekend, and if you don’t play in Europe, that’s not always easy.”
