Arne Slot knows Liverpool must improve against their direct competitors if they are to have any chance of lifting the Premier League trophy, ahead of Sunday's trip to Arsenal. (More Football News)
Liverpool lead the Premier League table after eight matches under new boss Slot, taking 21 points to sit one clear of champions Manchester City.
Third-placed Arsenal are four points behind the Reds after suffering a surprise defeat at Bournemouth last time out, giving Slot's team the chance to put real distance between themselves and a rival this week.
Last season, Liverpool did not manage a victory in four matches against City and Arsenal, recording three draws and one defeat – a 3-1 loss at the Emirates Stadium in February.
Indeed, Arsenal are unbeaten in their last four Premier League games against Liverpool (two wins, two draws), taking more points from these four games (eight) than in their previous 14 against the Reds (seven).
Speaking at Friday's pre-match press conference, Slot said: "We all know that taking points from your competitors is important.
"Nobody knows in this early stage who is going to be your competitor or your biggest competitor, but I think we all know that Arsenal will be one of them and dropping points against them or winning points against them... that is always important.
"So, you're right, I think it was three draws and one loss [against Arsenal and Manchester City] last season.
"So if you use simple mathematics, if Liverpool could have won all three of them I think the league table would have been a bit different.
"It's difficult to win an away leg against Arsenal, City or all the other ones but it's something we are trying to do on Sunday, definitely."
If Liverpool win Sunday's game, it will be their second-best ever start to a Premier League season after nine games (24 points – currently on 21).
The only other occasion on which they have won 24 or more points through nine games in a Premier League campaign was in 2019-20, when they last won the title (25 points).
Asked whether his start had surpassed expectations, Slot insisted he was simply focused on implementing his style of play and said results will take care of themselves.
He added: "There were no expectations from me. It wasn't that I was on my holiday thinking, 'after 10 games how many points do I want to have?'
"No, the only thing I was thinking was, 'how am I going to try to bring the best out of this team, that has been done for so long by Jurgen [Klopp]?'
"How can we continue that and how am I going to do the individual meetings with the players, the team meetings with the players? You don’t think about points.
"For me, the way I think about it, it's about the process we are doing, what we do on a daily basis, and that – in my experience until now – leads in the end to points."
