Liverpool may end up viewing this week as the one that won them the Premier League, as Arne Slot is working magic for the Reds.
They counter-attacked Manchester City to perfection on Sunday to beat the defending champions 2-0 and open up a 20-point advantage over their recent rivals.
MORE — Man City vs Liverpool recap | Player ratings
Liverpool’s lead also grows to nine points clear of second-place Arsenal, who have played one fewer match than the Reds, who appear to have total control of the Premier League title race.
Mohamed Salah also deserves some praise from his boss after another goal and an assist to lead the Premier League in both categories, and Slot had no shortage of talking points after this big win.
Arne Slot reaction — What did Liverpool boss say after Reds beat Manchester City?
How did they win? “By scoring a set piece. If you want to you win a big game, you need a neutral set piece balance or score one and not concede. If you come here you have to defend, and we defended really well.
Set-piece goal taken from Bournemouth? “We as a group of people look at how to set up and in this situation someone came up with a brilliant plan, it wasn’t me. We knew that space could be there. We trained it yesterday and now because of a deflection it went in and that’s helpful because it’s not like we were dominating the game.”
What was the difference today? “First half played out better for them than us besides the score. They were dominating the game but in the first half it felt like they could score at any moment. We could set up at halftime a little better what we wanted from the players and that helped because in the second half I can’t remember the chances.”
“Ideally we could have the ball more than the other team, but City does it better than anyone. I told them before the game the only, only, only chance you have to win here is to defend because they are so good here.”
Will this weekend stand as the one they sealed title control? “Three days ago we had a draw at Villa and people told me we were not in a good place. Three days later it’s the exact opposite. There are 11 games to go and if these players can keep working this hard, we have a chance. We work every day so hard to achieve this. Now three months of very hard work to hopefully continue.”
“There’s not such a big secret. We’re 11 points clear but Arsenal have one game in hand. What we did today — work as hard as we can. The best attack we had didn’t end up in the goal. You always have to adjust to the task at hand. Man City away is a lot different than Plymouth Argyle away.”
Is your job to stay calm while fans, media get excited? “It’s easier for us not to get excited because we know what we have to put in. The fans look at the two goals we scored and say, ‘Wow’ but we know the work we did to defend. It’s up to us know why we are where we are and these boys know it well.”
