Trent Alexander-Arnold has dismissed concerns about doubts surrounding Liverpool’s status as Premier League title contenders.
Currently, Liverpool sit atop the league, having secured seven wins from their first eight matches.
However, they are just one point ahead of Manchester City and four points clear of Arsenal, who were widely considered the strongest title challengers at the season’s outset.
When asked about the skepticism regarding Liverpool’s title chances, especially following the managerial change from Jurgen Klopp to Arne Slot, Trent Alexander-Arnold told Sky Sports: “It doesn’t bother me.
“We had to try and figure out how good we were as a team in a new system and if that system was going to work and obviously it has.
“We have a lot of world-class players but a new manager and a new system, so of course on the outside looking in you’re thinking, ‘I don’t know.
“Can they go and challenge the City’s and Arsenal’s?’
“But for us, we were training, we felt good and we got off to a good start. As soon as we came in for the first chat with the manager, it was ‘we want to win things’.”
Liverpool will face Arsenal on Sunday in what promises to be the toughest test of Slot’s tenure, and the Dutchman is fully aware of this challenge.
“We know how tough an opponent Arsenal are, especially in their own stadium,” Slot told TNT Sports after his side beat RB Leipzig 1-0 in the Champions League.
“We faced them the season before on our USA tour where both teams weren’t having all their players in yet.
“Arteta has done an amazing job in the last few years.
“So we know, like against Chelsea and like today, we have to be on top of our game to have a chance to get a result. But we will do everything to get that of course.”
Meanwhile, Gunners boss Mikel Arteta has stated that his team will be ‘flying’ on Sunday, despite facing recent injury challenges.
“We played two nights ago with players coming from internationals after flying from Brazil and many countries,” Arteta said after Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.
“I was expecting a bit of a drop off.
“And the fact that we put so much in the first half and didn’t get the distance in terms of the scoreline, I think we paid a bit for that.
“Then we made life more difficult for us because we started give the ball away in not the right areas and then it was more open.
“That didn’t help.
“But we have now four days. Believe me, come Sunday we’ll be flying.
“For sure.
“We’ll review, have a day off, then two days to prepare the game.
“Sunday is far and we are more than comfortable that we’ll be in the right place.”
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