Liverpool fans felt the familiar sting of Premier League defeat on Saturday as they succumbed to a last-second Bournemouth winner.
The Reds are in diabolically bad form as they attempt to defend the title they won last year and now have only five wins from their past 18 league matches.
More recently, that translates to no victories in five games, having drawn four and now lost their latest fixture.
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Will Xabi Alonso be Liverpool manager by the start of the 2026/27 season?
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Xabi Alonso pictured during Real Madrid's La Liga match against Real Betis at the Bernabeu (Credit: Getty Images/Alberto Gardin/NurPhoto).
Photo Credit: Getty Images/Alberto Gardin/NurPhoto
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A tally of 21 points from the last 54 available is simply not good enough for a Liverpool manager and Arne Slot is surely now living on borrowed time.
But despite the dismal form stretching back quite some way, Reds owners FSG appear unlikely to swing the axe on Slot immediately. Nevertheless, after defeat at the Vitality Stadium, the bad omens are starting to pile up for the Dutch coach.
Arne Slot equals unwanted Kenny Dalglish record
As per statistician Michael Reid on X, Slot’s record of five wins from 18 Premier League matches is the worst seen at Liverpool for 14 years.
Dangerously for the Reds’ current boss, the manager in charge at that time was Sir Kenny Dalglish, who won five of his final 18 league games during his second spell in the Anfield dugout.
Arne Slot during Bournemouth v Liverpool - Premier League
Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images
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Dalglish was then sacked by the Liverpool owners, with Brendan Rodgers brought in to take over. The Americans have form where this kind of run is concerned.
What may be more pertinent to FSG is Reid’s second statistic of Saturday evening, in which he shares that Liverpool’s current points per game ratio for the Premier League season stands at 1.57.
He goes on to say that no team running at 1.57 points per game or less has ever finished in the top four of the English top flight since three points were introduced for a win in 1981. Liverpool could potentially finish fifth and still qualify for next season’s Champions League, but again, the omens are not good for Slot in terms of keeping his job.
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Mohamed Salah chases the ball during Liverpool's Premier League match against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium
Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images
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Could FSG pull the trigger sooner than the summer?
Clearly, Slot’s and Dalglish’s situations are slightly different in that the Scotsman’s terrible run came heading into the summer time.
That felt like a natural point to make a change in manager, even if Dalglish wholeheartedly disagreed at the time.
For Slot, he might just survive on the basis that FSG obviously do not want to make a similar change in the middle of the season.
The trajectory towards a lack of Champions League football for next season will no doubt worry them gravely, though, and if Liverpool get much worse perhaps they will decide that something must be done.
Either way, it is starting to look very much like the writing is on the wall for Slot at Liverpool.
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