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Arne Slot has warned his Liverpool players they cannot keep conceding goals from set-pieces if they want to beat Arsenal to this season’s Premier League title.
The Reds are back in action this weekend following the international break, with Manchester United visiting Anfield on Sunday. Liverpool will be aiming to return to winning ways after suffering three straight defeats in all competitions.
That streak has seen Slot’s side fall behind Arsenal in the early stages of this season’s title race. Mikel Arteta’s side holds a one-point advantage going into this weekend, having sat five points off the pace before the Reds’ poor run of results.
Liverpool is still searching for some sort of rhythm following a major overhaul in the summer transfer window, with pundits pointing fingers in different directions in response to the Reds’ struggles so far.
Slot though had a simple explanation for his side’s slump, pointing to the amount of goals his side has conceded, and in particular those from set-pieces. Liverpool has conceded nine goals in seven league games so far, compared to Arsenal’s three in the same timeframe.
“If you are the team that has created the most chances from open play, you can argue if we don’t surprise teams,” Slot said in his press conference on Friday. “Maybe we do things better than the last three results have shown.
“But it's also clear that we haven't created as many chances as last season, and there’s a reason for that. It’s the playing style of the opponent.
“We have to find answers to that, but the first answer is not to concede as many goals as we did. There’s one way of winning a game of football, to score two or three goals, but if the other team scores one or two goals, you need three goals, where last season we were also able to keep a clean sheet and only need one goal.
“First half of last season, we mainly got these goals from a special moment of one of our front three, and in the second half we mainly needed a set-piece to make the difference against these low blocks.
“This season, we haven’t had that many special moments - an act of brilliance, and we haven’t scored from a set-piece.
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“If you would tell me that we’ve conceded 40 per cent of our goals from set-pieces, and the number one in the league has scored 60 per cent of their goals from set-pieces, and we’re still one point behind that team, I would probably think that’s not even that bad.
“But it is of course clear that conceding four is far too much for a team that wants to compete.”
Liverpool is hoping to have both Ibrahima Konate and Ryan Gravenberch fit for Sunday’s game following their recent injury scares.
Slot revealed that both players are expected to train over the next couple of days, although goalkeeper Alisson Becker remains out with a hamstring problem.
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