Arne Slot spoke about the strength of Sunderland, who held **Liverpool**to a 1-1 draw at Anfield.
The Black Cats continue to impress days after beating **Bournemouth**3-2 and turning around a two goal deficit. They have also defeated **Chelsea**2-1 at Stamford Bridge and drawn 2-2 with Arsenal, and another late goal nearly materialised in their favour were it not for a Federico Chiesa block.
“The final minutes of the game we were close to making the 2-1 because we had a few set-pieces, were constantly around their box. They couldn't actually come out of that situation anymore.
“But from one of those set-pieces, from the second phase we brought the ball in and their goalkeeper caught the ball, I looked up and I saw a player of theirs completely free at the halfway line.
“Fede kept sprinting and Alisson moved him to the outside, and as a result of that Fede could clear the ball off the line, which was I think the minimum we deserved tonight and the minimum his effort deserved as well. I mean with that, that the draw was the minimum we deserved.
*“I knew before the game, when you play Sunderland, from the 14 games they have played they have only conceded four times more than one goal, and in these four games they've only conceded two.*
“So, it's a hard team to score against, it's a hard team to create your chances against, because they either go really aggressive in a high press or they have 11 players - 10 outfield players and a goalkeeper - who defend their box with their lives. That's why it's so difficult to create.
“In that aspect, I was hoping for more - although I knew how difficult it is to create against them.
*“We know they can press really high and defend with 11 players around their box, that is what many teams do in the Premier League. That's the minimum you need to do - defend with 11 players - because this league has become so strong that it's very hard not to defend with 11 players.*
“We've hardly conceded. The first big chance of them - I don't count the shot that hit the bar because that was not a chance - but the first serious chance was from a set-piece that hit the post.
“And then their goal is, in my opinion, not even a chance. If that is a chance, we've probably had 20 chances tonight. But, unfortunately, a deflection led to going 1-0 down. Then, recently in our games we've found it really hard to get the equaliser, although we had our chances every time.
“We had a little bit of luck with scoring the 1-1 because that was also a deflection.”