Liverpool are all set for a big weekend as they stand on the brink of another Premier League title.
The Reds need just a point against Tottenham on Sunday to ensure nobody can catch them at the top of the tree.
Nothing should be taken for granted, but with Anfield in party mode, it would be a surprise if Liverpool did not put Spurs to the sword.
Gary Neville has predicted Liverpool go ‘barbaric’ on Tottenham and while we’d be more cautious in a prediction, it does feel like it will be the Reds’ day.
For Arne Slot, it will represent the first moment where he can truly soak in what he has achieved in a remarkable debut season with Liverpool.
And as Slot prepares to become just the second Liverpool manager to win the Premier League, former Reds defender Mark Lawrenson has made an interesting observation about his relationship with the Liverpool squad.
Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty ImagesLiverpool squad love Arne Slot
Part of the reason Slot’s rise at Liverpool has been so impressive is because of who he was replacing at Anfield. Truly, there can never be a Jurgen Klopp.
But the Dutchman has been his own man from the moment he first buttoned up the Liverpool training kit. Things have been done his way, always with a respectful nod to the past.
And according to Lawrenson, this approach seems to have worked a dream with the players he inherited.
“The thing with the manager is he’s gone in there and he’s looked at what he’s got and thought ‘do you know what? We’ve got a real chance here, I don’t have to make too many changes’,” Lawrenson tells The Mirror.
“He hasn’t signed anyone apart from [Federico] Chiesa and he’s just done little things. It’s Klopp’s team, isn’t it?
“He’s got a nice way about him,” Lawrenson adds. “The players obviously like him, you can just tell. He’s basically everyone’s pal, generally he’s an intelligent fella who’s looked at it and thought I can work with these players.”
Lawrenson names six key players
As well as talking up Slot’s popularity with his players, Lawrenson also picked out six stars who have been critical to Liverpool’s success this season: Alisson Becker, Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah.
“I think they’re the best three trio in the league,” he says of the midfield three. “I don’t think there’re any better and they hardly get injured.
“If you remember, when we started the season, everyone was going ‘Gravenberch, he didn’t do very well last season’ and ‘where does he play?’. The three of them have worked it out between themselves and that engine room for me has just been the best.
“Then, you chuck Mo’s goals into that, Virgil’s defending, Alisson and that’s why they’re going to win the league.”
Listing off the players, it’s hard to argue that Slot did not walk into an excellent situation. But he still had to win those stars over and get them firing on the pitch. He’s done that and then some.