Liverpool head coach Arne Slot
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot (Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
If ever there's a time for a smidgeon of levity in the Anfield hotseat, dismantling the European Cup holders and then the Premier League champions inside the space of a week seems as opportune a moment as any. Small wonder the smile on the face of Arne Slot as he strode in to face the media at the AXA Training Centre early on Tuesday morning.
And his jovial mood was evidenced by the response to the first question when informed that Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville, having routinely dismissed Liverpool as title contenders at the start of the season, now regards them as "huge favourites" for the crown going into Wednesday's trip to Newcastle United.
βIs that the first time he did so? He had a different opinion at the start of the season about us!" says Slot. "Which probably most people had so he was not the only one except for our fans.
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"I've said many times already we don't look at it at this moment, we have a difficult week coming up again. We thought (Real) Madrid and (Manchester) City were difficult teams to face I think it is even harder to go to an away game to Newcastle and we are not even halfway through the season yet but it is a good position to be in, that is true."
Indeed, Liverpool are now the team to be hunted. Sunday's 2-0 dismantling of City - worth remembering that, for all the injury concerns of the visitors, Liverpool had just as many regular starters unavailable and were without more squad members - has opened up a nine-point lead over Arsenal and Chelsea, with City a further two points adrift in fifth place.
Never before has a team had such an advantage at the top of the Premier League table after 13 games and not gone on to win the championship.
Liverpool, though, have a history of creating unwanted firsts in the division, being the only club to have fewer than three defeats in a season - as they managed when losing only twice in 2008/09 and 2021/22, and just once in 2018/19 - without winning the title, along with being the only club to total more than 90 points in a campaign and not be champions, as they managed in 2018/19 and 2021/22.
While there are still nine players in the current squad who featured for the first team in the 2019/20 title-winning season, all bar summer signing Federico Chiesa were involved in the failed tilt last season when, after a strong three-quarters to the campaign, Liverpool fell away to finish behind City and Arsenal.
Slot now regards Chelsea as part of that elite group. And the Reds boss admits last season's experience means his players cannot afford to let their standards slip when they begin a tough run of away fixtures at St James' Park.
"This club, this team, these players are used to the fact that they are top of the league or they are competing for every trophy," says Slot. "Then it helps that they have experienced this. And they also have experienced that they competed for a long time and then in the end they came too short, they couldn't manage to win it.
"So, they also know that it's a long season and to win the league against the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and City β because I see those three as our main competitors at the moment β they all know that we have to be for nine, 10 months on top of their game because if you let down for a second, these clubs show up immediately.
"That is a combination of factors that they have the experience but they also see the quality of Chelsea, they've experienced the quality of Arsenal and also of City already. They know we have to stay on top of our game."