Liverpool FC

“After today’s game we will have only eight league matches left to play, which serves to underline that we are now entering the home straight,” writes head coach Slot in the official matchday programme.

“While some of our objectives might have changed since the start of the season, the basic requirement of finishing as high as we can in the league table remains.

“The key to this, of course, is to win as many games as possible and then we will see where it takes us. There is no point dwelling on what might have been or getting drawn into what might have been different, our total focus has to be on reaching the finishing line as strongly as possible.

“Going into this weekend we are sixth in the table, which is not where we want to be and also not where we want to end up. The aim has to be to go higher so that we can push ourselves into the Champions League qualification places and hopefully stay there.

“That particular race is going to be highly contested – as it should be – with a number of teams having the same aim going into the final months. Again, our focus should not be on what they are doing. It should only be on what we are doing. After all, it is our results and performances that will dictate our outcome.

“Today, this means taking on a Tottenham team which has its own reasons for needing a strong finish to the campaign. For someone like me who always followed English football from a distance before coming to this country, it is strange seeing them in their current situation and this is one of the reasons why I do not expect it to last.

“At the same time, their circumstances mean they will arrive at Anfield not just as a wounded animal, but also as a team which knows it has to scrap for survival and which has a point to prove. This makes them a dangerous opponent regardless of recent results or league position and we will treat them as such.

“We also know that we need a response of our own having narrowly lost our last game away to Galatasaray. While we have the opportunity to overturn that result at Anfield on Wednesday night, the best way to go into the second leg would definitely be on the back of a positive result against Tottenham.

“Looking back to midweek, one of the big positives – again – was the support we received from our away fans. Twice this season we have been to Turkiye, twice we have been unfortunate to lose and twice the backing we have received has been phenomenal, particularly given the passionate atmosphere that was created by the Galatasaray fans.

“Because of this I will never get tired of saying that while we always need this kind of support, we can never and will never take it for granted. Knowing that so many of you are willing to go to such great lengths to travel, to be away from home and from work and loved ones in order to back Liverpool can only ever be a huge motivation.

“Today will be no different. A full Anfield always brings opportunity and this is another chance for us to deliver so it is up to us to do so.

“We should believe in ourselves and in one another because if we do that our chances of getting the result we are looking for and taking a step towards our objectives for the rest of this season can only be enhanced.”

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The Reds welcome Spurs to Anfield on Sunday in a 4.30pm GMT kick-off, the first of two games at home in the coming days.

The second fixture will see Arne Slot's side take on Galatasaray in the second leg of their last-16 Champions League tie on Wednesday as they look to overturn a 1-0 deficit.

In his official matchday programme notes for the meeting with Tottenham, Van Dijk writes: "Every game is important when you play for Liverpool, and in particular when you reach this stage of the season, but there's no doubt that this is a very important week for us.

"We returned from Turkiye and our Champions League game with Galatasaray frustrated, disappointed that another tight game went against us in the end. We weren't at our best level, that is true, but we still had enough chances to come away from a tough game with a positive result, and that is where our frustration comes from.

"There is, however, no time to dwell on things. We know that it is only half-time in the tie, and we will look forward to the second leg at Anfield on Wednesday knowing we have both the opportunity and the quality to reach the quarter-finals.

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"Before we even think about that, though, we must make sure we are fully focused on delivering a strong performance against Tottenham.

"The importance of this game is clear given the Premier League table, and that applies to Spurs too. A lot of people will focus on their recent results, but from our perspective we know that we will be facing a team that will be extremely motivated, and which still possesses a lot of quality. It is therefore down to us to set our own standards, both with and without the ball.

"We always want to create chances and be dominant in possession, of course, but as I say so often, the basis for that is always the same; hard work, togetherness and commitment.

"That means that in every challenge, every duel, and with every recovery run, we have to be at 100 per cent. Stick together, give everything and fight for everything, from the first whistle to the last.

"We are playing at home, and we are all responsible for making sure that the atmosphere is spot on. We know that you guys will be backing us as always, but we also want to give you something to really get behind.

"We know the sacrifices you make to support us all over the world, whatever the weather. We saw and heard you in Turkiye, as we did twice before that in Wolverhampton. As players, that is really important to us and I can assure that your support is never taken for granted.

"Like I say, this is a big game at the start of a big week, and that is an exciting prospect for each and every one of us. We should embrace and enjoy the challenges that lie ahead, and I am confident we will.

"I would also like to mention the fact that the game sees the Liverpool FC Foundation celebrate its Community Day, an event held to mark the incredible work that they do.

"In my time at the club, I have been lucky enough to see the LFC Foundation's work close up, and it is something which always impresses and strikes a chord with me.

"This club, this city, is about standing together, helping one another and being part of a community, and the LFC Foundation represents that in the best way possible.

"I would urge anyone reading this to learn more about their work, and to get involved however you can as they look to support even more people in our communities."

The Reds are back in Premier League action on Sunday afternoon for Spurs' visit to Anfield.

It allows Szoboszlai and his teammates a swift opportunity to return to winning ways after the midweek defeat at Galatasaray in the Champions League.

"I was pretty angry after the game because of the result but not only about that," the No.8 told Liverpoolfc.com. "Because I feel that we didn't play in a way like we should and we can.

"Because we showed it so many times that we are able to win against any team actually or compete against any team in the league or in European football.

"We have to really focus on the upcoming games because now it's Tottenham on Sunday and next week on Wednesday is going to be a big game – I can't wait for it."

Tottenham arrive on Merseyside searching for vital points in their objective to maintain their top-flight status.

But Liverpool also have their own ambitions between now and the end of the league campaign, as they look to ensure Champions League football will be played at L4 next season.

Szoboszlai continued: "To be honest, I'm not thinking about them. I'm thinking about us because also we have some things to fight for. We want to play next year in the Champions League, so there is a spot to go for.

"But first of all, we have to focus on ourselves and do the right stuff, do the right things and then everything is going to be all right."

Liverpool are back at Anfield following three consecutive matches on the road.

Being encouraged by nearly 60,000 Reds is an advantage Arne Slot's men are keen to make the most of.

"It's a huge difference. We need them on Sunday, for sure," Szoboszlai said. "Everybody who is able to come should come.

"I think that's never a problem but also we need them as loud as they can be, especially next week on Wednesday.

"We felt in Istanbul how it is to play in such a loud stadium with such great fans, but I think we can show the same at home. We're going to need each of them."

Season so far

Spurs are 16th in the standings heading into this weekend's round of top-flight fixtures, having won seven, drawn eight and lost 14 of their games.

Current interim head coach Igor Tudor replaced Thomas Frank at the helm last month.

In the Champions League, meanwhile, they have reached the Round of 16 stage, though were beaten 5-2 in the opening leg of their tie against Atletico Madrid in midweek.

Previous meeting

In the reverse fixture, the Reds claimed a 2-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in December.

Goals from Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike gave the visitors the advantage, while Richarlison reduced the deficit late on.

Spurs also saw Xavi Simons and Cristian Romero sent off that day.

Key players

Forward Richarlison sits top of the Tottenham scoring charts having netted nine times this season, alongside his four assists.

Micky van de Ven – though banned for this game – is next on the list with seven goals, while centre-back partner Romero has supplied six, with Dominic Solanke on the same number.

Pedro Porro and Mohammed Kudus, meanwhile, lead the way in terms of assists after recording six apiece so far.

Team news

Van de Ven (suspension), Romero (concussion) and Joao Palhinha (concussion) are all fresh absentees for Spurs heading to Anfield.

Yves Bissouma has also been added to the visitors' lengthy injury list.

Already sidelined are Rodrigo Bentancur, Lucas Bergvall, Ben Davies, Kudus, Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison, Wilson Odobert and Destiny Udogie.

What has been described as a 'minor' injury ruled the Brazilian goalkeeper out of the Reds' Champions League defeat at Galatasaray in midweek.

During a press conference on Friday morning, before the team trained, Slot was quizzed on the possibility of Alisson being involved against Spurs.

"I'm hopeful but that's not to say I'm 100 per cent sure," said Slot.

He later added: "[Alisson] felt something when he passed the ball in one of his muscles [on Monday]. But after we checked it, it was so minor that we think it doesn't have to take very long.

"But as always, games follow up so fast that he had to miss the one against Galatasaray, and hopefully he's available and ready for Sunday.

"If not, I'm expecting him – if things go as planned – definitely against Galatasaray."

Giorgi Mamardashvili was Alisson's replacement in goal in Istanbul and made his 12th appearance since arriving from Valencia.

Federico Chiesa should return for the Tottenham meeting at Anfield after not making the trip to Turkiye due to illness.

"I expect he feels better now because he felt unwell the day before the game and I think we're now three or four further ahead," Slot reported.

There is no change on the status of long-term absentees Stefan Bajcetic, Conor Bradley, Wataru Endo, Alexander Isak and Giovanni Leoni.

Rio Ngumoha started the Emirates FA Cup victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers last week but was then an unused substitute versus Galatasaray.

Asked about the 'balancing act' of managing the 17-year-old's minutes, Slot replied: "It's not that we think so far ahead what it would mean for the rest [of his career], but this season we've treated him carefully.

"I think I've said something about that before, that he cannot be too many days in a row on the pitch because of stress fractures players of these ages sometimes have and have had here in this club. Jayden Danns is one of the examples of that.

"But Rio is a player that could start for us. I think I've said a month ago that he would get more playing time and I think we've all seen that; coming in for a longer spell of times, starting against Wolves.

"And he's definitely an option to start in one of the upcoming three games."

The Reds head coach spoke to reporters during a press conference on Friday morning at the AXA Training Centre.

Among a number of topics, Slot discussed the Anfield game against Spurs, what he wants the team to achieve in the closing months of the campaign and Rio Ngumoha.

Read a summary below…

On the contrast in Liverpool’s form compared to the last Anfield clash with Spurs, when the Reds clinched the Premier League title…

Yeah, it wasn’t only special for me, it was special for a lot of people. There’s a big difference between where we are now and where we were then, that’s clear and obvious. It’s a great memory. But I’m looking forward to the game in two days again as well, because playing at home at Anfield is always something to look forward to. And we have a point to prove, because the last game in the league we’ve lost, the last game in the Champions League we’ve lost, and now playing in front of our own fans is something we will always find special.

Fitness update: Alisson Becker, Federico Chiesa and Alexander Isak

On what he wants to achieve in the remainder of this season…

What I want is that I am able that every single player gets the maximum out of every single training session and game we are playing from now until the end of the season. And that is the aim, for me and that should be the aim for the players and I’m 100 per cent sure that is the aim for the players, because that’s the only way to get the maximum out of what is there, what is in it for us. What that’s exactly going to be, that’s not always so easy to say in advance because sometimes you need a little bit of luck.

Like last season when we played the last 16 [in the Champions League], it went to penalties and we were really close of beating Paris Saint-Germain. We lost and they went on to win the Champions League. So, margins at the level we are playing – Premier League, Champions League – are really small, but we have to fight for those margins every single day to make them bigger and bigger and bigger. And that’s the aim. That was already the aim at the start of the season but that’s even more the aim now.

On setting the bar high last season…

I think the bar at Liverpool is always high. It has always been high and will always be high. And that’s only a good thing. We’re a top club, where the bar should be set high by the people around us, but we will set the bar just as high. Yeah, indeed, last season where we were able to achieve one of the things we wanted to achieve and that was winning a league, close to winning the League Cup, which we lost in the final against Newcastle. This season of course we’re unable to win the league again, but we’re still in two cups, Champions League and the FA Cup, where we are competing.

On whether Spurs’ form and Liverpool’s record against them ‘increases the expectation on the team to win the game’…

I think if Tottenham would be No.1 in the league at the moment, every fan would expect us at home to win. And that is if we play against Man City, that’s when we play against Arsenal, that’s every game this club plays at home: we’re expected to win. That has nothing to do with the form of the other team or where they are in the league or the quality they have. We can win our 1,500th [league] game at home, so expectations come from history and history has shown that this club has been able to win a lot of games, let alone home games. So, it doesn’t matter who we play, who we face, expectations are always sky-high at this club, and that’s what we are embracing because that also means, as I said before, that this club is able to win things. That’s what we’ve done in the past few years and in history as well.

On ‘why so many players didn’t reach their levels’ against Galatasaray on Tuesday…

I believe that a good individual performance comes from a good team performance. I think in the first 15, 20 minutes we were ‘at it’ or ‘on it’, I don’t exactly know how you say this. Three or four moments where we should have scored and then there was a moment that completely changed the momentum of the game, conceding a set-piece. Not for the first time in this season, that changed the momentum of the game completely. That is not what we are accepting. We cannot say, ‘OK, if we concede a goal after 20 minutes then everything should be much worse than it was before.’

But I agree with you, we didn’t play our best game of the season, that’s also completely clear. I also saw that for an away game in Europe, we were able to generate enough chances to score a goal, more than a few other teams were able to create in an away game in the Champions League. But we’ve struggled throughout this whole season with converting the chances we’ve got. And unfortunately, we have the bad cocktail of conceding goals from the few chances we are conceding.

As long as we cannot repair that, every game is going to be very difficult. But I have a lot of confidence that we are able to do better because of the quality players we are having and because of the fact that the upcoming two games are played at home. I think playing away against Galatasaray and then them getting the goal, that was a big momentum shift but also in the energy in the stadium. So I’m really looking forward to playing twice at home now with the support we’ve always felt from our fans. That can make a massive difference for us.

On how close Ngumoha is to starting in the Premier League and what the ‘balancing act’ is with him…

It’s not that we think so far ahead what it would mean for the rest [of his career], but this season we’ve treated him carefully. I think I’ve said something about that before, that he cannot be too many days in a row on the pitch because of stress fractures players of these ages sometimes have and have had here in this club. Jayden Danns is one of the examples of that. But Rio is a player that could start for us. I think I’ve said a month ago that he would get more playing time and I think we’ve all seen that; coming in for a longer spell of times, starting against Wolves.

And he’s definitely an option to start in one of the upcoming three games because, as you know, for the fifth time this season, I think, we have to play three games in seven days with an early kick-off on Saturday, an away game at Brighton. So, we’ve been very ‘lucky’ this season with that schedule. So yeah, that means you need more than 11 players and of course, the midweek game can also be longer than 90, as we’ve experienced last season. So, with then playing three games in seven days, every player that’s fit has the chance to play or to start in the upcoming three games.

The Reds head coach spoke to reporters during a press conference on Friday morning at the AXA Training Centre.

Among a number of topics, Slot discussed the Anfield game against Spurs, what he wants the team to achieve in the closing months of the campaign and Rio Ngumoha.

Read a summary below…

On the contrast in Liverpool’s form compared to the last Anfield clash with Spurs, when the Reds clinched the Premier League title…

Yeah, it wasn’t only special for me, it was special for a lot of people. There’s a big difference between where we are now and where we were then, that’s clear and obvious. It’s a great memory. But I’m looking forward to the game in two days again as well, because playing at home at Anfield is always something to look forward to. And we have a point to prove, because the last game in the league we’ve lost, the last game in the Champions League we’ve lost, and now playing in front of our own fans is something we will always find special.

Fitness update: Alisson Becker, Federico Chiesa and Alexander Isak

On what he wants to achieve in the remainder of this season…

What I want is that I am able that every single player gets the maximum out of every single training session and game we are playing from now until the end of the season. And that is the aim, for me and that should be the aim for the players and I’m 100 per cent sure that is the aim for the players, because that’s the only way to get the maximum out of what is there, what is in it for us. What that’s exactly going to be, that’s not always so easy to say in advance because sometimes you need a little bit of luck.

Like last season when we played the last 16 [in the Champions League], it went to penalties and we were really close of beating Paris Saint-Germain. We lost and they went on to win the Champions League. So, margins at the level we are playing – Premier League, Champions League – are really small, but we have to fight for those margins every single day to make them bigger and bigger and bigger. And that’s the aim. That was already the aim at the start of the season but that’s even more the aim now.

On setting the bar high last season…

I think the bar at Liverpool is always high. It has always been high and will always be high. And that’s only a good thing. We’re a top club, where the bar should be set high by the people around us, but we will set the bar just as high. Yeah, indeed, last season where we were able to achieve one of the things we wanted to achieve and that was winning a league, close to winning the League Cup, which we lost in the final against Newcastle. This season of course we’re unable to win the league again, but we’re still in two cups, Champions League and the FA Cup, where we are competing.

On whether Spurs’ form and Liverpool’s record against them ‘increases the expectation on the team to win the game’…

I think if Tottenham would be No.1 in the league at the moment, every fan would expect us at home to win. And that is if we play against Man City, that’s when we play against Arsenal, that’s every game this club plays at home: we’re expected to win. That has nothing to do with the form of the other team or where they are in the league or the quality they have. We can win our 1,500th [league] game at home, so expectations come from history and history has shown that this club has been able to win a lot of games, let alone home games. So, it doesn’t matter who we play, who we face, expectations are always sky-high at this club, and that’s what we are embracing because that also means, as I said before, that this club is able to win things. That’s what we’ve done in the past few years and in history as well.

On ‘why so many players didn’t reach their levels’ against Galatasaray on Tuesday…

I believe that a good individual performance comes from a good team performance. I think in the first 15, 20 minutes we were ‘at it’ or ‘on it’, I don’t exactly know how you say this. Three or four moments where we should have scored and then there was a moment that completely changed the momentum of the game, conceding a set-piece. Not for the first time in this season, that changed the momentum of the game completely. That is not what we are accepting. We cannot say, ‘OK, if we concede a goal after 20 minutes then everything should be much worse than it was before.’

But I agree with you, we didn’t play our best game of the season, that’s also completely clear. I also saw that for an away game in Europe, we were able to generate enough chances to score a goal, more than a few other teams were able to create in an away game in the Champions League. But we’ve struggled throughout this whole season with converting the chances we’ve got. And unfortunately, we have the bad cocktail of conceding goals from the few chances we are conceding.

As long as we cannot repair that, every game is going to be very difficult. But I have a lot of confidence that we are able to do better because of the quality players we are having and because of the fact that the upcoming two games are played at home. I think playing away against Galatasaray and then them getting the goal, that was a big momentum shift but also in the energy in the stadium. So I’m really looking forward to playing twice at home now with the support we’ve always felt from our fans. That can make a massive difference for us.

On how close Ngumoha is to starting in the Premier League and what the ‘balancing act’ is with him…

It’s not that we think so far ahead what it would mean for the rest [of his career], but this season we’ve treated him carefully. I think I’ve said something about that before, that he cannot be too many days in a row on the pitch because of stress fractures players of these ages sometimes have and have had here in this club. Jayden Danns is one of the examples of that. But Rio is a player that could start for us. I think I’ve said a month ago that he would get more playing time and I think we’ve all seen that; coming in for a longer spell of times, starting against Wolves.

And he’s definitely an option to start in one of the upcoming three games because, as you know, for the fifth time this season, I think, we have to play three games in seven days with an early kick-off on Saturday, an away game at Brighton. So, we’ve been very ‘lucky’ this season with that schedule. So yeah, that means you need more than 11 players and of course, the midweek game can also be longer than 90, as we’ve experienced last season. So, with then playing three games in seven days, every player that’s fit has the chance to play or to start in the upcoming three games.

The Reds head coach spoke to reporters during a press conference on Friday morning at the AXA Training Centre.

Among a number of topics, Slot discussed the Anfield game against Spurs, what he wants the team to achieve in the closing months of the campaign and Rio Ngumoha.

Read a summary below…

On the contrast in Liverpool’s form compared to the last Anfield clash with Spurs, when the Reds clinched the Premier League title…

Yeah, it wasn’t only special for me, it was special for a lot of people. There’s a big difference between where we are now and where we were then, that’s clear and obvious. It’s a great memory. But I’m looking forward to the game in two days again as well, because playing at home at Anfield is always something to look forward to. And we have a point to prove, because the last game in the league we’ve lost, the last game in the Champions League we’ve lost, and now playing in front of our own fans is something we will always find special.

Fitness update: Alisson Becker, Federico Chiesa and Alexander Isak

On what he wants to achieve in the remainder of this season…

What I want is that I am able that every single player gets the maximum out of every single training session and game we are playing from now until the end of the season. And that is the aim, for me and that should be the aim for the players and I’m 100 per cent sure that is the aim for the players, because that’s the only way to get the maximum out of what is there, what is in it for us. What that’s exactly going to be, that’s not always so easy to say in advance because sometimes you need a little bit of luck.

Like last season when we played the last 16 [in the Champions League], it went to penalties and we were really close of beating Paris Saint-Germain. We lost and they went on to win the Champions League. So, margins at the level we are playing – Premier League, Champions League – are really small, but we have to fight for those margins every single day to make them bigger and bigger and bigger. And that’s the aim. That was already the aim at the start of the season but that’s even more the aim now.

On setting the bar high last season…

I think the bar at Liverpool is always high. It has always been high and will always be high. And that’s only a good thing. We’re a top club, where the bar should be set high by the people around us, but we will set the bar just as high. Yeah, indeed, last season where we were able to achieve one of the things we wanted to achieve and that was winning a league, close to winning the League Cup, which we lost in the final against Newcastle. This season of course we’re unable to win the league again, but we’re still in two cups, Champions League and the FA Cup, where we are competing.

On whether Spurs’ form and Liverpool’s record against them ‘increases the expectation on the team to win the game’…

I think if Tottenham would be No.1 in the league at the moment, every fan would expect us at home to win. And that is if we play against Man City, that’s when we play against Arsenal, that’s every game this club plays at home: we’re expected to win. That has nothing to do with the form of the other team or where they are in the league or the quality they have. We can win our 1,500th [league] game at home, so expectations come from history and history has shown that this club has been able to win a lot of games, let alone home games. So, it doesn’t matter who we play, who we face, expectations are always sky-high at this club, and that’s what we are embracing because that also means, as I said before, that this club is able to win things. That’s what we’ve done in the past few years and in history as well.

On ‘why so many players didn’t reach their levels’ against Galatasaray on Tuesday…

I believe that a good individual performance comes from a good team performance. I think in the first 15, 20 minutes we were ‘at it’ or ‘on it’, I don’t exactly know how you say this. Three or four moments where we should have scored and then there was a moment that completely changed the momentum of the game, conceding a set-piece. Not for the first time in this season, that changed the momentum of the game completely. That is not what we are accepting. We cannot say, ‘OK, if we concede a goal after 20 minutes then everything should be much worse than it was before.’

But I agree with you, we didn’t play our best game of the season, that’s also completely clear. I also saw that for an away game in Europe, we were able to generate enough chances to score a goal, more than a few other teams were able to create in an away game in the Champions League. But we’ve struggled throughout this whole season with converting the chances we’ve got. And unfortunately, we have the bad cocktail of conceding goals from the few chances we are conceding.

As long as we cannot repair that, every game is going to be very difficult. But I have a lot of confidence that we are able to do better because of the quality players we are having and because of the fact that the upcoming two games are played at home. I think playing away against Galatasaray and then them getting the goal, that was a big momentum shift but also in the energy in the stadium. So I’m really looking forward to playing twice at home now with the support we’ve always felt from our fans. That can make a massive difference for us.

On how close Ngumoha is to starting in the Premier League and what the ‘balancing act’ is with him…

It’s not that we think so far ahead what it would mean for the rest [of his career], but this season we’ve treated him carefully. I think I’ve said something about that before, that he cannot be too many days in a row on the pitch because of stress fractures players of these ages sometimes have and have had here in this club. Jayden Danns is one of the examples of that. But Rio is a player that could start for us. I think I’ve said a month ago that he would get more playing time and I think we’ve all seen that; coming in for a longer spell of times, starting against Wolves.

And he’s definitely an option to start in one of the upcoming three games because, as you know, for the fifth time this season, I think, we have to play three games in seven days with an early kick-off on Saturday, an away game at Brighton. So, we’ve been very ‘lucky’ this season with that schedule. So yeah, that means you need more than 11 players and of course, the midweek game can also be longer than 90, as we’ve experienced last season. So, with then playing three games in seven days, every player that’s fit has the chance to play or to start in the upcoming three games.

The Reds head coach spoke to reporters during a press conference on Friday morning at the AXA Training Centre.

Among a number of topics, Slot discussed the Anfield game against Spurs, what he wants the team to achieve in the closing months of the campaign and Rio Ngumoha.

Read a summary below…

On the contrast in Liverpool’s form compared to the last Anfield clash with Spurs, when the Reds clinched the Premier League title…

Yeah, it wasn’t only special for me, it was special for a lot of people. There’s a big difference between where we are now and where we were then, that’s clear and obvious. It’s a great memory. But I’m looking forward to the game in two days again as well, because playing at home at Anfield is always something to look forward to. And we have a point to prove, because the last game in the league we’ve lost, the last game in the Champions League we’ve lost, and now playing in front of our own fans is something we will always find special.

Fitness update: Alisson Becker, Federico Chiesa and Alexander Isak

On what he wants to achieve in the remainder of this season…

What I want is that I am able that every single player gets the maximum out of every single training session and game we are playing from now until the end of the season. And that is the aim, for me and that should be the aim for the players and I’m 100 per cent sure that is the aim for the players, because that’s the only way to get the maximum out of what is there, what is in it for us. What that’s exactly going to be, that’s not always so easy to say in advance because sometimes you need a little bit of luck.

Like last season when we played the last 16 [in the Champions League], it went to penalties and we were really close of beating Paris Saint-Germain. We lost and they went on to win the Champions League. So, margins at the level we are playing – Premier League, Champions League – are really small, but we have to fight for those margins every single day to make them bigger and bigger and bigger. And that’s the aim. That was already the aim at the start of the season but that’s even more the aim now.

On setting the bar high last season…

I think the bar at Liverpool is always high. It has always been high and will always be high. And that’s only a good thing. We’re a top club, where the bar should be set high by the people around us, but we will set the bar just as high. Yeah, indeed, last season where we were able to achieve one of the things we wanted to achieve and that was winning a league, close to winning the League Cup, which we lost in the final against Newcastle. This season of course we’re unable to win the league again, but we’re still in two cups, Champions League and the FA Cup, where we are competing.

On whether Spurs’ form and Liverpool’s record against them ‘increases the expectation on the team to win the game’…

I think if Tottenham would be No.1 in the league at the moment, every fan would expect us at home to win. And that is if we play against Man City, that’s when we play against Arsenal, that’s every game this club plays at home: we’re expected to win. That has nothing to do with the form of the other team or where they are in the league or the quality they have. We can win our 1,500th [league] game at home, so expectations come from history and history has shown that this club has been able to win a lot of games, let alone home games. So, it doesn’t matter who we play, who we face, expectations are always sky-high at this club, and that’s what we are embracing because that also means, as I said before, that this club is able to win things. That’s what we’ve done in the past few years and in history as well.

On ‘why so many players didn’t reach their levels’ against Galatasaray on Tuesday…

I believe that a good individual performance comes from a good team performance. I think in the first 15, 20 minutes we were ‘at it’ or ‘on it’, I don’t exactly know how you say this. Three or four moments where we should have scored and then there was a moment that completely changed the momentum of the game, conceding a set-piece. Not for the first time in this season, that changed the momentum of the game completely. That is not what we are accepting. We cannot say, ‘OK, if we concede a goal after 20 minutes then everything should be much worse than it was before.’

But I agree with you, we didn’t play our best game of the season, that’s also completely clear. I also saw that for an away game in Europe, we were able to generate enough chances to score a goal, more than a few other teams were able to create in an away game in the Champions League. But we’ve struggled throughout this whole season with converting the chances we’ve got. And unfortunately, we have the bad cocktail of conceding goals from the few chances we are conceding.

As long as we cannot repair that, every game is going to be very difficult. But I have a lot of confidence that we are able to do better because of the quality players we are having and because of the fact that the upcoming two games are played at home. I think playing away against Galatasaray and then them getting the goal, that was a big momentum shift but also in the energy in the stadium. So I’m really looking forward to playing twice at home now with the support we’ve always felt from our fans. That can make a massive difference for us.

On how close Ngumoha is to starting in the Premier League and what the ‘balancing act’ is with him…

It’s not that we think so far ahead what it would mean for the rest [of his career], but this season we’ve treated him carefully. I think I’ve said something about that before, that he cannot be too many days in a row on the pitch because of stress fractures players of these ages sometimes have and have had here in this club. Jayden Danns is one of the examples of that. But Rio is a player that could start for us. I think I’ve said a month ago that he would get more playing time and I think we’ve all seen that; coming in for a longer spell of times, starting against Wolves.

And he’s definitely an option to start in one of the upcoming three games because, as you know, for the fifth time this season, I think, we have to play three games in seven days with an early kick-off on Saturday, an away game at Brighton. So, we’ve been very ‘lucky’ this season with that schedule. So yeah, that means you need more than 11 players and of course, the midweek game can also be longer than 90, as we’ve experienced last season. So, with then playing three games in seven days, every player that’s fit has the chance to play or to start in the upcoming three games.

The Liverpool head coach spoke to reporters at the AXA Training Centre on Friday morning to preview Sunday's Premier League clash at Anfield.

See everything Slot had to say via our YouTube stream of the briefing below.