Arne Slot has urged caution despite Liverpool’s commanding position at the top of the Premier League following a 3-1 victory over Leicester City on Boxing Day.
The win moved the Reds seven points clear at the summit, cementing their status as strong contenders for a record-equaling 20th league title.
The match at Anfield started on a challenging note, with Jordan Ayew putting Leicester ahead in the sixth minute.
However, Cody Gakpo equalised before halftime, Curtis Jones gave Liverpool the lead shortly after the restart, and Mohamed Salah sealed the result with his 19th goal of the season.
Liverpool’s position was further strengthened by second-place Chelsea’s shock defeat at home to Fulham.
With a game in hand against Everton and a comfortable lead, the Reds are in a dominant position heading into their final fixture of 2024 against West Ham United on Sunday.
Despite the growing optimism around Liverpool’s title chances, Slot has emphasized the need for focus and consistency.
“If you are in this game for a long time, you know 20 games before the end, you don’t look at it,” Arne Slot said.
“There are so many challenges that are still ahead of you. I think it was two months ago that we were two points behind Manchester City and look at what happened there.
“In terms of injuries and suspensions and then a bit of bad luck, this can happen to any team, so it is too early to be celebrating with so many challenges. But it is of course nice to be the team who we are to be able to do this.
“But you have been at all these games and I don’t think there was an easy win for us during all of these. Could have been easy against Spurs but they scored three and I was happy that we scored a sixth goal.
“That tells you how difficult it is to win if all of your players are available, let alone if you pick up some injuries and suspensions. That is why we just have to take it one game at a game.”
Slot added: “It is important to win a game and I think we should win against Leicester at home but I had the same feeling against Fulham and Nottingham Forest, so you always have to do a lot to win a game, especially in the Premier League and that was also today because we went 1-0 down. The league table is something we are aware of but we understand how many games there are to go.
“I think that [Gakpo goal] was crucial. I was happy with the first-half performance today. There was only one minute I wasn’t happy with and that was the minute we conceded a goal. That was the only thing we didn’t do well, we created chances, threatened them with balls in the box with many players arriving in front of goal.
“I could not have asked for that much more but it was crucial to score the 1-1 just before half time because that lifted us up and you could see that in the second half, we kept on going, it helped us and it worked the opposite way for Leicester. They felt like now it is going to be tough.”
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