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Manchester City fans mocked Liverpool head coach Arne Slot during Sunday's Premier League clash by suggesting that he could be fired after losing 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium.
City dominated the Premier League champions in the 1,000th game of Pep Guardiola's coaching career, as Erling Haaland, Nico Gonzalez, and Jeremy Doku scored for the hosts. After making a strong start to the season, Liverpool has struggled, but optimism remained heading into Sunday's game.
Back-to-back wins against Aston Villa and Real Madrid lifted the mood around Liverpool, but the Reds have now lost seven of the last 10 games under Slot. Sunday's defeat was Liverpool's heaviest in the Premier League this season, and City fans rubbed salt in the wound.
City fans were heard chanting "sacked in the morning," as pressure has started to mount on Slot. Liverpool is now eighth in the Premier League standings, with just three points earned since the start of October.
Liverpool made a thrilling start to the season, winning the first seven games in all competitions. However, fans were concerned as Liverpool didn't look comfortable despite earning victories, and results have dried up.
It's been a summer of transition for Liverpool, after Slot won the title in his first season as head coach. Slot won the Premier League with Jurgen Klopp's squad, as Federico Chiesa was the only addition last season.
While Slot is unlikely to be fired by Liverpool, he is under extreme pressure to turn things around quickly. Liverpool has already been eliminated from the EFL Cup, but has made a promising start to the Champions League campaign.
In the Premier League, Arsenal now looks like the team to beat, and the Gunners are four points clear of City. However, Arsenal drew 2-2 to newly-promoted Sunderland on Saturday, which allowed Liverpool a great chance to close the gap.
Despite the potential boost, Slot was uninterested in the result ahead of Sunday's game, with complete focus on City. "I think in general you focus on your own team," he said. "After the results we've had in the last one and a half months, it's even more reason to focus on yourself and not on others.
"So we know the challenge ahead of us. City away is one of the most difficult games throughout the whole season, and we prepared for that and we didn't pay more attention than to any other game."
Slot also played down the midweek win over Madrid, and appeared to praise City when comparing the two European giants. "There is a similarity. If you look at them, both number nines – Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland – both of them are incredibly fast," Slot said. "Both of them scoring most goals for their team.
"But, you cannot compare Real Madrid to Manchester City. In my opinion, both very, very, very good teams, but a manager that worked with a team for 10 years, not with all the same players, but worked here so long or a manager that's only work with a team three or four months.
"That's of course the difference. So, I have to agree with you. If you look at the pace of both number nines – Mbappe and Haaland – I see a lot of similarities."
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