Liverpool could benefit from Man City vs Arsenal fallout – despite Slot downplaying title chances

Anfield manager can take advantage of Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta’s growing rivalry to keep progressing under the radar

He will not admit it, but there is a dream plot line for Arne Slot’s debut Anfield season in which Manchester City and Arsenal slug it out and finish runners-up and third in their “two-horse race”.
The past seven days have demonstrated to the Liverpool manager the broader expectations upon his club for the season, with Pep Guardiola versus Mikel Arteta now regarded as the Premier League’s defining rivalry.
To be so rarely included in the title conversation could be taken as an insult to a Liverpool team who have won six out of seven in all competitions. Instead, there is most likely some enthusiasm that the focus is on the growing antipathy between the Etihad and Emirates, allowing Slot to quietly and diligently put his stamp on a team which may be more developed than many imagine.
For members of the Anfield hierarchy who have experienced the challenge of taking on the reigning champions, there will be perverse pleasure in seeing Arsenal absorbing most of the emotional baggage when taking on the Abu Dhabi empire.
Going head-to-head with City can mean exposure to a toxic environment and it will not have gone unnoticed how the champions are increasingly redirecting their barbs from Anfield to north London via the occasional Bernardo Silva interview or petty boardroom whispers about visiting directors refusing to shake hands after conceding injury time equalisers.
Arteta will be considered making provocative retaliatory gestures simply by having the audacity to be an annual challenger.
Liverpool anticipate Slot has all that to come.
Until then, the onus is on the club to take advantage of what they hope will be a brief period in which they are regarded less of a threat, still in transition and not yet quite ready to make the leap from the 82 points collected last season to the 90-plus which are compulsory to finish top in the Guardiola era.
Slot is correct to suggest that a fine start cannot disguise the real challenges are yet to come, with the win at Old Trafford qualifying as the only “statement” league result so far. That was balanced by the home loss to Nottingham Forest, ensuring the glass-half-full and half-empty brigade have much to debate when downing their post-match pint.
Liverpool play Chelsea, Arsenal, Aston Villa and City between October 20 and December 1, in addition to Champions League ties against Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen.
It will be clearer by then if last season’s third spot was a prelude to the next step towards the top, or if the wholesale change in football operations during the summer delayed the timescale by which the club can realistically expect to become champions again.
What is clear is that Oscar Wilde’s contention that “the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about” does not seem to apply in Slot’s case. Liverpool will be happy to keep progressing under the radar while City and Arsenal try to take each other down.
Arne Slot said his side’s title credentials can only be assessed after “tougher” fixtures despite an excellent start to his Anfield career.
The Liverpool manager said there is much to prove before it can be argued his team are ready to go the distance with Manchester City and Arsenal. 
He claimed he has been given a kind introduction to the Premier League since replacing Jurgen Klopp, especially when compared to the schedule of Saturday’s opponents Wolverhampton Wanderers.
“I think it is always difficult to judge the league table after five, six or seven games because if you look at Wolves they were really unlucky [with the fixture list] playing Arsenal, Newcastle, Chelsea and Villa – that is a different fixture list than the one we had,” said Slot.
“So I think the best way to judge the league table is after 19 games.
“I know how good they [the players] are but we still have to prove things when the fixtures are coming that we all know after the international break [Chelsea, Arsenal, Brighton, Villa].
“But one thing I noticed in the Premier League compared to the league I have come from is that every team has a few players who cost £40 million to £50 million and have a lot of quality so there are no easy games in the Premier League. I know every manager says it but it is true.”
Liverpool are yet to face a side that finished above eighth last season – the trip to Manchester United traditionally one of the most challenging dates in the diary, but the scene of a comfortable victory earlier this month.
That may explain why there is a general view across the English game that Arsenal, successive runners-up, are more realistic challengers to City than Liverpool.
“I don’t mind if they underestimate or overestimate us,” said Slot.
“Manchester City have taken 31 more points than us in the last two seasons. So that is the situation as it is and we’re trying to close that gap. 
“They [Liverpool] came closer than the season before and now we are trying even harder to close the gap. I just focus on us. You guys have to talk and write every time, my job is to be focused on the team.”
Liverpool expect goalkeeper Alisson Becker to return at Molineux after recovering from a tight hamstring.