Slot on Liverpool’s Forest Defeat: “Now It’s Not Such a Shock Result”
Liverpool’s only defeat in the Premier League season far came against Nottingham in September but seems less shocking in light of their current table position.
When Liverpool lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest in September, with the defeat coming at Anfield no less, it was a shock result that had many wondering if the Reds’ quick start under new head coach Arne Slot might have reached its end.
It hadn’t, as four months later and into January of the new year that remains Liverpool’s solitary league defeat and the Reds six points clear at the top of the Premier League table with a game in hand. For Forest, though, it was the start of something, and today they along with Arsenal are the two sides six points back of Liverpool.
“Now looking back at it and seeing where they are in the league it’s not such a shock result as I thought back then,” Slot noted ahead of Tuesday’s rematch at The City Ground in West Bridgford in a game few would have pegged as a title six-pointer at the start of the season.
“They had a very good game plan. I think they already showed in retrospect how good of a team they were, and leading up to the game they had two draws and one win. But for us to lose then on that day was for me hard to take, as you probably experienced.”
Rounding out the current top four is Chelsea, with Enzo Maresca’s London Blues having faded over the past month and now ten points off the pace having played a game more than Slot’s Merseyside Reds but still in fourth place.
Five through eight each sit a point further back, with Newcastle in fifth on 35, Manchester City sat sixth on 34, Bournemouth on 33, and then Aston Villa on 32. From Forest’s rise—and for that matter Bournemouth competing for the European places—to City’s fall, it’s a table few would have guessed at at season’s start.
“I’ve always said you can judge the table best halfway through the season,” Slot added. “That moment is there now, so if Forest is then up there with us, with Arsenal, with Chelsea and City and all the others they definitely are a team that is in this with us.
“They deserve to be treated like this if you look at the way they play and also if you look at their results. It’s going to be a very difficult challenge for us tomorrow to get a result.”
Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com
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