Liverpool Champions League prediction piles pressure on Arne Slot

2 hours ago 3

Liverpool has been touted as the favorite of the English sides to win the Champions League this season.

The Reds were eliminated at the last-16 stage by eventual winner Paris Saint-Germain in 2024-25, but before that they were being touted as the favorite to go all the way. Arne Slot's men ended up winning the Premier League, and they have started this season with a 100 per cent record in the league, suggesting another strong campaign is in the offing.

Focus switches to Europe this week with the visit of Atletico Madrid to Anfield, and despite the quality the Spanish side possesses, Liverpool is the heavy favorite to win. That shows just how highly the Liverpool team is regarded right now, and former Reds star Stan Collymore has tipped his old club to do well in Europe this season.

Discussing Arsenal's Champions League chances in comparison to Liverpool's, Collymore told 10bet Casino: "It's now down for them [Arsenal] to manage their minutes and for them to have an impact in Europe.

"I'm fascinated to see what Madueke and Eze do in Europe. Arsenal should comfortably beat most teams in the league phase, but against the big sides, I think Arsenal can now set up and play counter attacking and be nice and compact in their own half.

"Then they can hit you on the break and do real damage, just as Paris Saint-Germain did last year.

"I'm looking forward to that from Arsenal. But I still don't think they have the belief that for example Liverpool does, and that's why I think I'd go in ranking order, who would be my bet to win the Champions League from England, it would be Liverpool.

"Then a little gap with Arsenal, and then a bigger gap to Manchester City."

Alexader Isak could make his debut for Liverpool against Atletico after missing the game against Burnley, as Slot looks to carefully manage the striker's game time.

Stan Collymore has given his Champions League predictions

Stan Collymore has given his Champions League predictions

“He (Isak) did recovery [today],” Liverpool head coach Arne Slot said after the win over Burnley. “He had a hard and tough session yesterday. It’s not that difficult to understand.

“If you start the season when the players have been off for three, four, five weeks, you give them a certain base and a lot of good sessions before they are able to play 45 minutes at the end of the week.

“We got him from Newcastle in a state where his pre-season is going to start now. He needs proper minutes of training before he has a certain base, let alone for him to play twice in three days.

“We try to prepare players at the beginning of the season to play once a week and then we try to do more and more before we go into the rhythm of two games a week so they are ready from that schedule.

“Now, Alex is far from ready for that schedule of three games a week, 90 minutes. Today, we could have used him for five minutes and ten on Wednesday, but we don’t believe that is the way to build him up.”

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