Liverpool boss Arne Slot is gearing up for his managerial showdown with Ruud van Nistelrooy once again, this time expressing delight that [Cody Gakpo is on his team](http://cody gakpo) and not the opposition's.
Recalling his 2022-23 title chase with Feyenoord when they pipped Van Nistelrooy's PSV Eindhoven to the trophy, Slot acknowledged the tight games they had — losing at the Phillips Stadion and drawing at De Kuip and with Gakpo making a significant impact in those matches before his Anfield switch.
With Van Nistelrooy now at Leicester City, Slot has eyes on their Premier League encounter, advising caution against the Foxes even as they fight relegation threats.
"I was expecting you to tell the people over here that I lost once and drew once!" the Liverpool boss said. "But you made it positive, saying that we won the league title which was true!
"Cody Gakpo was in his team, but I'm happy that he's in my team when we face Ruud because Cody, I think he scored.
"Ruud is a very nice person, first of all. I met him once or twice. I think he did really well when he was at PSV because I think for the last one and a half years, PSV have been on top of the league table but if you look at the second half of Ruud's season, I think they didn't lose many games at all.
Arne Slot knows all too well how effective Cody Gakpo can be from the left following their Eredivisie days
Before joining Liverpool, Gakpo showed off his scoring prowess in games against Slot's Feyenoord
"It wasn't a surprise that, after he left, they bought so many players because PSV started buying a few more players than they did when he started working there. When he was there, Cody Gakpo and Noni Madueke were sold.
"But he still showed that he could compete for the title. Nice person, good manager, did well at Man United as well. Looking forward to seeing him - especially if we win!
On the topic of Van Nistelrooy's current team, Slot observed: "I think the positives are that the teams which are positioned in the lower side of the league table, they mostly lose games but since Ruud has been there, they have also won a few.
"That shows you that he's done really well, especially when he came in. Now I think he's had two tough results in a row.
"These teams, all of them, it's special for them to go to Anfield and they know if they go to Anfield then they have to be at their best so they will never underestimate us."
"Hopefully, that's a good thing about these 15 minutes we've shown today (conceding goals against Tottenham) that we must understand that we cannot underestimate for even one minute in the Premier League because then we are not as good as we might think we are if we are on top of our game."