Liverpool takes on Qarabag in the Champions League knowing that a victory will secure a top-eight spot and mean the play-off round is avoided for Arne Slot’s side
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot.(Image: Xavier Laine/Getty Images)
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot admits his side will have to play much better today than it did against Bournemouth at the weekend if it is to get back on track today.
Only Federico Chiesa has come back into contention to take part in the game against Qarabag, while Virgil van Dijk is the only available senior center-back that Liverpool can call upon. Joe Gomez picked up an injury on the south coast, with Ibrahima Konate still absent following the death of his father.
With a win definitely securing a top-eight spot in the standings, and Liverpool in need of some positivity, Slot could very much do with his team playing well. The Champions League has offered some respite from poor Premier League showings of late.
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“We will need to improve on our performance at the weekend when we lost to Bournemouth,” Slot writes in today’s official matchday program.
“As I said afterwards, the way this defeat came about was hugely frustrating, especially as we conceded another last-minute goal after getting ourselves back into the game, but the only way to deal with this kind of disappointment is to use it to drive us on.
“When this season’s competition began back in September, our initial target was to get ourselves into the kind of position that we find ourselves in tonight — with the possibility of automatic qualification in our own hands.
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot.(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
“That we are in this situation is great credit to the players, particularly as our draw was very testing at a time when, by our own admission, our form has not been as strong as we would like it to be.
“Winning games at this level is only ever difficult so the five victories we have earned out of seven matches so far is a very good return. Now we need to build on that by finishing the job tonight.”
Liverpool is fourth in the Champions League standings heading into the final round of games, but dropped to sixth in the Premier League over the weekend after Amine Adli’s late winner at the Vitality Stadium.
“I think it’s going to be really difficult to quieten the outside noise with the position we are in in the league,” Slot said in his pre-match press conference.
Arne Slot speaks to the media during the Liverpool press conference at Anfield on January 27, 2026(Image: Jan Kruger/Getty Images)
“Even if we win a few games, every loss or every disappointing result will start the noise coming back again. That’s what you expect if you started the season as we did, not started but at a certain moment with so many losses.
“But it’s impossible to shut down the noise at a club like this if you are not competing for the league. What we have to improve, for me it’s so simple.
“I think in between the boxes we are a very, very, very good team. The way we play out from the back, the way we bring the ball towards promising positions, the box entries we have, also against Bournemouth so many times we were in positions where I would like my players to be in.
“But killing those moments, bringing it from promising positions towards chances and if we have the chances then be clinical and finish it off — that is something where we have to improve. So, in the box we have to improve.
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“And in the other box, other teams arrive there three, four times a game [and] too many times if they arrive it leads to chances and sometimes to goals.
“So, there’s an imbalance in how many times we arrive in promising positions and how many teams arrive there — but there’s not an imbalance in the goals that are scored, and that’s a very bad cocktail we are having. If we can improve in both boxes, we can do very special things this season.
“If we can only improve in one box then it’s probably going to be an acceptable season but not more than that. And if we can’t improve in both boxes, [there is] going to be a lot of noise throughout the whole season.”