Arne Slot has underlined the importance of taking points from ‘competitors’ as Liverpool face Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday.
The Reds travel to the Emirates to take on an Arsenal side who sit third in the table, four points behind leaders Liverpool.
Arsenal have finished as runners-up in each of the last two Premier League campaigns and are again expected to challenge at the top end of the division.
A win for Liverpool will move the Merseysiders seven points clear of the Gunners in the Premier League and the importance of Sunday’s showdown has not been lost on Slot.
“We all know that taking points from your competitor and nobody knows in this early stage who is going to be your biggest competitor but I think we all know Arsenal will be one of them,” Slot said at his pre-match press conference.
“Dropping points against them or winning points against them, that is always important.”
Slot has won 11 of his opening 12 games in charge of Liverpool and his side have begun a tough run of games impressively, with victories over Chelsea and RB Leipzig over the past week.
The Dutchman believes there are similarities in style between Chelsea and Arsenal as Liverpool prepare to face London opposition again this weekend.
“I said before the game and after the game, that I expected a lot from Chelsea this season and they showed it at Anfield last Sunday. They are a similar team to Arsenal when it comes to playing style, they both like to go with the fullback inside and come into the same formational as Arsenal but if you look at the last two seasons, Arsenal were far ahead of us but also above Chelsea.
“So you would assume playing Arsenal would be more difficult but let’s see at the end of the season where Chelsea and Arsenal both are, normally you would expect, since it is an away game, this one is more difficult than Chelsea at home and we all saw how difficult Chelsea at home was.”
Arsenal vs Liverpool team news
Slot has confirmed that Diogo Jota, Federico Chiesa and Conor Bradley will all miss the game at the Emirates as the trio join Alisson Becker and Harvey Elliott as absentees.
Arsenal also have a depleted squad with some big names missing. William Saliba is suspended after his red card at Bournemouth last weekend, while Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori are unlikely to feature.
