Arsenal could have established a comfortable lead at the top of the Premier League if they had beaten Sunderland on Saturday afternoon before Liverpool's clash with Man City
Arne Slot was aware of Arsenal's result against Sunderland before the Man City clash
Arne Slot was aware of Arsenal's result against Sunderland before the Man City clash
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Arne Slot remained coy when he was quizzed on the Premier League title race ahead of Liverpool's clash against Manchester City. Arsenal squandered the opportunity to establish a nine-point lead at the top of the table when they drew 2-2 with Sunderland on Saturday afternoon.
Chelsea were the first to capitalise on the result at the Stadium of Light, narrowing the Gunners' advantage to six points with a win over Wolves just a couple of hours later. Shortly before the reigning champions locked horns with Man City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday evening, Slot was asked if he had seen the score.
The Reds boss downplayed any suggestion that he or his players had prepared any differently in light of the match in the North East. Slot told Sky Sports: "I think in general you focus on your own team.
"After the results we've had in the last one and a half months, it's even more reason to focus on yourself and not on others. So we know the challenge ahead of us.
"City away is one of the most difficult games throughout the whole season, and we prepared for that and we didn't pay more attention than to any other game."
Slot added: "I didn't see the game at all because I was analysing, still, City one more time, for the 250th time probably this week. I heard the result, as I heard the result of all the other games played in the Premier League yesterday as well."
Arne Slot speaks to Alexander Isak before he came on against Everton.
Arne Slot speaks to Alexander Isak
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Slot was then asked whether he's going to deploy a similar plan to the one he used against Real Madrid, in anticipation that Man City will look to play Erling Haaland in-behind.
The likes of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham didn't get a sniff when Liverpool defeated Los Blancos 1-0 in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night.
The Reds boss said: "There is a similarity. If you look at them, both number nines – Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland – both of them are incredibly fast. Both of them scoring most goals for their team.
"But, you cannot compare Real Madrid to Manchester City. In my opinion, both very, very, very good teams, but a manager that worked with a team for 10 years, not with all the same players, but worked here so long or a manager that's only work with a team three or four months.
"That's of course the difference. So, I have to agree with you. If you look at the pace of both number nines – Mbappe and Haaland – I see a lot of similarities."