Arne Slot said it was far too early for Liverpool to be celebrating a 20th league title despite his team going seven points clear at the top of the Premier League with victory over Leicester.
Liverpool increased their lead over second-placed Chelsea, and also have a game in hand on their nearest challengers, after coming from behind to beat Ruud van Nistelrooy’s struggling side at Anfield. But despite Chelsea and others faltering in their pursuit of the league leaders, Slot reiterated his call for focus and perspective from Liverpool.
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“If you are in this game for a long time, like these players are and I am, you know that you don’t look at it 20 games before the end,” the Liverpool head coach said. “There are so many challenges still ahead of you. A few months ago we were one point behind Manchester City and look at what has happened there. Injuries, suspensions, bad luck – it can happen to anybody. It is far too early to be celebrating. You have seen all these games and I don’t think there was an easy win. That tells you how difficult it is to win if all of your players are available. We just have to take it one game at a time.”
Curtis Jones, who put Liverpool ahead early in the second half, received a text from Jürgen Klopp after his 100th Premier League appearance for his boyhood club.
Jones said: “I came in and saw a text off Klopp saying ‘congratulations on 100 games and here’s to 500’. I was like: ‘What is he on about?’ I just checked and I am proud. It was him who set up the team we have now. The foundation was there and Arne Slot has carried it on. It looks good but there are plenty of games to come.”
Van Nistelrooy was encouraged by his Leicester team’s response to Sunday’s heavy home defeat by Wolves. “I think we were in the contest for a result for a long time,” he said. “3-1 was the turning point in the sense that the game was done for us, but in the 60th minute I remember a chance for [Patson] Daka to equalise. We were still in the game to get a surprising result then.”
