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Liverpool fell to its fifth defeat of the Premier League season so far over the weekend with Manchester City putting three goals past Giorgi Mamardashvili, even though the goalkeeper saved an Erling Haaland penalty.
And even though Arsenal dropped points against Sunderland on Saturday, it was Pep Guardiola's team, not Arne Slot's, that managed to close the gap. While Liverpool was unfortunate to see a Virgil van Dijk header chalked off, Manchester City was comfortably the deserved winner on the day.
"Of course, everyone is disappointed," Slot said during his post-match press conference. "It was a very good start to the week, winning against [Aston] Villa and Real Madrid.
"But if you thought you already faced two strong opponents, then Man City comes across, away at the Etihad. That is, for every team, difficult, including for us. They were by far the much better side in the first half.
"The last thing I should speak about now is the title race. We should first focus on getting results — result after result after result — before we can even think about that and the reality is that we are eighth now.
"One team is quite far ahead, although City are four points away from Arsenal. The rest is quite close.
"I said last season many times, even when we were leading in the beginning, the best way to judge the league table is of course after 38 [games] but the next best thing is to judge it after 19 games because then you’ve all faced the same opponents.
"Our first focus should be on getting results and the last thing we should focus on is the title race, which is something we could do last season but also not the previous two seasons before. But we need to improve and that’s obvious."
According to a supercomputer from Casino Hawk, Arsenal will finish the season four points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table.
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Liverpool, though it is struggling at the moment in the league, is predicted to finish third — comfortably inside the Champions League spots, but well off the pace in terms of the title.
Arsenal is predicted to get 90 points, with Manchester City finishing on 86. Liverpool, the data says, will collect 72 points, which is seven points ahead of Chelsea.
Liverpool.com says: Slot is right not to be looking too far ahead. However, there is a decent-looking run of games coming up after the international break.
Liverpool should be able to find some form in the next couple of months. By Christmas, it will be much easier to work out where the Reds' ambitions should lie.
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