Arne Slot plays down Liverpool’s title claim after second-leg draw at Arsenal

LONDON – Liverpool manager Arne Slot continued to temper his team’s expectations after a hard-fought 2-2 draw with Arsenal on October 27, although he praised the Reds’ morale after falling behind twice.

After a record start at Anfield, winning 10 of the Slot’s first 11 games in all competitions, Liverpool recorded their first draw of the season in a pulsating encounter at Emirates Stadium.

Slot, who has repeatedly said it was too early in the campaign to pass judgment on his part, returned to his familiar theme after seizing a late moment.

“I know you guys (media) like to talk about title contenders and where we are in the league – and that’s part of your job,” he said. “The only thing I’m looking at is, can you get a result in a tough away game like this?

“I really liked the way we did it… to see that we can compete with such a strong Arsenal team in their stadium is really nice to see.

“But what exactly this will lead to at the end of the season, I can’t tell you yet.”

Mohamed Salah’s equalizer moved Liverpool into second place, one point behind champions Manchester City, with Arsenal five points behind leaders in third.

Bukayo Saka gave Arsenal the lead in the ninth minute when he intercepted Ben White’s ball, cut past Andy Robertson and fired past Caoimhin Kelleher at his near post for his 50th Premier League goal since his return from injury.

Virgil van Dijk, who may have been lucky to avoid a card for his petulant tackle on Kai Havertz in the early exchanges, equalized nine minutes later with a Luis Diaz corner.

Mikel Merino scored his first goal for Arsenal just before half-time, responding to Declan Rice’s free-kick with a header that was ruled after a lengthy video assistant referee review for offside.

Salah leveled the game in the 81st minute with a calm strike from Darwin Nunez’s selfless cross, putting the Egyptian striker eighth on the all-time list and level with Robbie Fowler on 163 career Premier League goals.

Liverpool spent much of last season battling for the title in a three-horse race before losing in the closing stages, and their impressive recent form has raised the prospect of them challenging for a second Premier League title.

“It’s good to see us go two behind against a very strong and good Arsenal team and then get a point, especially because we had an away game in Europe this week and we had one less day to recover and prepare.” Slot added.

The Dutchman received his second card of the season and was left with one yellow card before his touchline suspension.

Slot said he deserved the booking he received during the last 2-1 win over Chelsea on October 20, but maintained his innocence after being booked in the second half.

“They always went down after they had the ball and in my opinion it took the energy out of the game and I said to Yibou (Ibrahima Konate), ‘It’s a bloody joke,’” Slote said.

“The fourth official thought I told him, ‘You’re fucking kidding me,’ so that’s definitely not what I said, but I got a yellow card for it, so now I’ve got two (yellows), so I’ve got to be careful now.