Kostas Tsimikas believes it is premature to suggest that Liverpool can eliminate Arsenal from the Premier League title race when they travel to the Emirates on Sunday afternoon.
The Greece international emphasised that the squad has learned valuable lessons from last season, which was “destroyed” by an FA Cup exit at the hands of Manchester United in March.
Tsimikas started in the Red Bull Arena on Wednesday as the Reds secured a 1-0 victory over RB Leipzig in the Champions League.
He played a crucial role in the winning goal, providing a cross for Mohamed Salah that was nodded back for Darwin Nunez to score.
The left-back, who filled in for Andy Robertson, was named UEFA’s Player of the Match for his performance.
Since succeeding Jurgen Klopp, Slot has led the team to 11 wins in 12 matches.
The Premier League leaders, currently sitting second in the revamped Champions League table, will face Arsenal with the opportunity to extend their lead to seven points over the Gunners in the early stages of the title race.
However, Tsimikas dismisses the notion that this match could be decisive in knocking Mikel Arteta’s side out of contention, stating that it is too early to make such claims ahead of this weekend’s standout fixture.
“I think it is too early to say that,” Kostas Tsimikas said.
“I think we will go to Arsenal to play our football and to win the game.
“That is our target but we just take it game by game, to try and win and play good football.
“I think that is the important thing right now. It’s too early to speak about [statements] but our goals at the start of the season, we said we wanted to win everything.
“It was just three points [against Leipzig], it was our aim to do that when we came here and we did exactly that, so we are very happy with the result.”
Last season’s 3-2 Cup defeat at United was a match in which the then quadruple-chasing Reds created numerous chances, only to be beaten with one of the last kicks of the 120-minute tie.
This loss marked the beginning of a frustrating end to the campaign, as the Reds were subsequently knocked out of the Europa League by Atalanta and dropped to third place, finishing nine points behind eventual winners Manchester City.
The Old Trafford draw in the Premier League a few weeks later initiated a sequence in which Klopp’s side won only four of their final 10 games across all competitions.
This included a 1-0 victory over Atalanta that ultimately still saw them eliminated from the Europa League.
Tsimikas stated that valuable lessons have been learned from the challenges faced at the end of last season.
Kostas Tsimikas added: “Last season, at the end, we destroyed everything after one bad result against Manchester United.
“I think the next fixtures back in the days we were not the team we were before, but I think we have tried to work game by game and every game is a final.
“We try to do what the manager is asking to win games.
“Like you say, there have been many changes [outside the squad] but I think the manager trusts a lot of the players here.
“We need that after this tough schedule that we have ahead of us.
“The main aim is to stick together, to recover and everyone has to be together if they want to win the league or Champions League.
“Of course, many players they know the team, the Premier League and most of the boys have been in the team for many years so we know exactly what we want, how the new manager is with new plans and ideas, the most important thing is to learn every day, game by game to show what you can do with your football.”
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