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Arne Slot’s clinical Liverpool snuffed out Manchester City in the Etihad Stadium rain to put one hand on the Premier League trophy.
Premier League: Arne Slot hugs Dominik Szoboszlai after Liverpool beat Manchester City (AP)
Liverpool boss Arne Slot said the depth of quality in the Premier League means his side can take nothing for granted despite opening up an 11-point lead with a 2-0 win at Manchester City on Sunday.
Second-placed Arsenal have a game in hand on the leaders, but Slot’s men took a giant stride towards a record-equalling 20th English top flight title thanks to their first league win at the Etihad Stadium for a decade.
City have dominated English football during Pep Guardiola’s time in charge, including an unprecedented run of four consecutive titles in the past four seasons.
However, they have been a diminished force this season and now find themselves 20 points behind Liverpool down in fourth.
“If you play away at the Etihad, if you win there, it’s always a big win, no matter what the league table looks like,” said Slot.
The travelling Liverpool support sang “we are going to win the league” as City ran out of ideas in their forlorn pursuit of a way back into the game after Mohamed Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai struck in the first half.
Slot, though, remains cautious after suffering a shock FA Cup exit to second-tier Plymouth Argyle earlier this month and being pushed all the way by relegation-threatened Wolves in a 2-1 win last weekend.
“The fans can sing whatever they want, I think they’ve been singing it quite long already. But we know as a team how hard we have to work for every single win,” added Slot.
“So in every other league, having a lead like this would be very comfortable, except for this one, because this league, every single game gives you a lot of challenges.
“Even Plymouth Argyle gave us a lot of challenges.”
Liverpool are now 20 points above a City side who came into the season tipped as favourites to win a fifth successive title.
“What we do know is that no one saw us as a title contender when we started in the beginning of the season,” Slot said.
“I think no one in the world of football would have expected City not to be so close to the to the one that leads the league, if they are not leading the league.”
(With inputs from Agencies)
