Arne Slot looks ahead to Saturday night’s Premier League fixture at Anfield as his out-of-form Liverpool side welcome an ever-improving Aston Villa team
Arne Slot previews Liverpool’s game with Aston Villa at Anfield
In an effort to stop a rot that now stands at six defeats in seven matches in all competitions, Arne Slot felt it was right to give his big guns the night off for Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup exit at home to Crystal Palace. A makeshift Liverpool squad that saw 10 changes and contained zero first-team players on the bench was subsequently beaten 3-0 by a Palace side full of regulars.
The likes of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Florian Wirtz were all present at Anfield on the evening but many of the stars whose performances helped Liverpool win the Premier League title by 10 points last time out were given the night off to prepare fully for Saturday’s visit from Aston Villa.
It means the majority have had a full week to prepare for just one game for the first time in over a month and with the defending champions potentially 10 points behind leaders Arsenal by the time the 8pm kick-off gets underway, Slot is banking on a well-rested contingent turning around a torrid sequence.
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“When was the last time I gave them a week off during the week, do you know?” asked the Reds head coach.
“The last time was Southampton at home (in the third round of the Carabao Cup) and then we played Crystal Palace three days later and that wasn’t our best first half.
“Of course, it would be very helpful if it brings the best out of them on Saturday. I have to manage the squad throughout the season and if I keep playing them after two days, two days, two days, two days then not all of them are used to that and I think there is a fair risk that they could be injured.
“If I have to go down with one or two more injured players in addition to the four I already have then the programme would become even more and more complicated.
“Yes, of course, I hope, we hope, that on Saturday we will see a team that is very energised but in my opinion we have seen this 98 out of 100 times while I have been in charge and probably all the games when Jurgen (Klopp) was in charge.
“The exception was the first half against Palace and the first 60 minutes against Brentford where we had to play two days after a long away game in Europe and the third game in seven days and many teams are struggling then.
“We struggled against Everton in the second half because that was also the third game in seven days in terms of winning duels and being as competitive.
“I have a lot of belief that the players are ready for Saturday and the fans are definitely ready, that is what I experienced on Wednesday, and let’s hope we can start the game going 1-0 up instead of always going 1-0 down.”
Slot added: “Against Manchester United, how many chances did we concede? And we were so offensive because every time you are 1-0 down you need to take the risk even more. Against Eintracht Frankfurt for example when we were 3-1 up, we hardly conceded a shot on target.
“So in all the games we played until now we haven’t conceded a lot of chances. Not at all. If I go one by one, which you could do, then look at the Brentford game for example.
“The first goal is a set piece, the second goal is a counter attack when we were perfectly organised but that wasn’t defending of our standards, and the third one is close to a ridiculous penalty. We were defending low in that moment by the way.
“We hardly give away a chance and we create a lot. That is the way I see it. But we do give away a bit more than last season but that always has to do with us being 1-0 down so you take a bit more risk.
“But in general I don’t think that our issue is that we concede too many chances, our issue is we don’t score the chances we create. Balls go in so we concede a lot of goals – but that is something else.”