Arne Slot: 'Liverpool is capable of competing for the title against Arsenal'

Coach Arne Slot expressed great confidence after Liverpool secured a point against Arsenal.

Liverpool extended their unbeaten streak to 10 games when they held Arsenal to a 0-0 draw at Emirates Stadium in the 21st round of the Premier League.

After the match, Coach Arne Slot stated that Liverpool performed on par with Arsenal, a team currently in excellent form and leading the standings, and believes the whole squad is fully capable of competing with worthy rivals.

The Dutch strategist shared: "I think throughout this season, except for the away match against Man City where we were controversially denied a goal, the team has shown that it is capable of competing fairly with any opponent, including Arsenal. At home, we managed to beat them 1-0 thanks to a set-piece that made the difference, but overall, the two teams are quite evenly matched.

Tonight's events once again demonstrated that balance. Looking only at the two direct confrontations, many might be surprised to see us trailing Arsenal by 14 points in the standings. For me, the reason is clear. We struggle more against weaker teams and have conceded 20 more goals from set-piece situations.

Nevertheless, this match further confirms that we remain a squad strong enough to make all opponents cautious, especially in tightly contested games."

After a disappointing run earlier this season, The Kop have somewhat regained their status, though draws have inadvertently widened the gap to the title contenders. Still, sharing points with Arsenal was highly praised by journalists, given the stark difference in class compared to teams like Fulham and Leeds, who also managed draws against Liverpool.

For his part, Slot believes his players outperformed their rivals and only lacked a bit of sharpness to convert the chances they created.

He added: "Honestly, I’m quite surprised that this match isn’t counted among those, because to me, it’s not much different from previous draws. We dominated possession, often found ourselves in good positions, but lacked the decisive moment to turn advantage into clear chances.

Because the opponent was Arsenal, the perception is more positive. If we played like this against Fulham or Leeds, even with higher possession, many would say the match was dull, and I would agree. I want the team to create more opportunities.

Even today, I don’t think we produced many truly dangerous situations. However, the whole team performed well, as in many other matches. But if you play well without creating many chances against teams like Leeds or similar opponents, few will rate it highly. This time, the positive view comes more from who the opponent is rather than how we played."

With this result, the Merseyside team remains in 4th place with 35 points, 14 points behind league leaders Arsenal.