Arne Slot shares Liverpool's dressing room stance on being Premier League leaders

Liverpool travel to Crystal Palace at the weekend with the chance to extend their advantage at the top of the Premier League but the Dutchman does not think anyone is getting ahead of themselves

Arne Slot has no fears his Liverpool players will get carried away with being top of the table.

The Reds are leading the Premier League after five wins from their first six games while they’ve won eight in nine in all competitions to make it the best ever start for a Kop manager. Liverpool, who visit Crystal Palace on Saturday, can now open up a four-point gap on rivals Manchester City and Arsenal, who don’t play until later in the day.

But Dutch boss Slot has no concern that his players will get carried away given he has a squad which includes Premier League and Champions League winners. He said: “We are Liverpool so players are used to being on top of the table, it would be very weird if a player at Liverpool would have his head in the clouds.

“But if we don’t play well on Saturday, people will probably come up with that instead of Palace played well. These players are experienced enough to read the league table.

“Virgil [van Dijk], Ali [Alisson Becker], Trent [Alexander-Arnold], Robbo [Andy Robertson], Mo [Salah] they won the league here and the Champions League here. For them it is a nice thing to be top but I am not expecting them to look at their mobile every second of the day.”

Meanwhile, Slot said would be a “stupid manager” if he felt his players’ could not perform in 12.30pm kick-offs because that’s the time he makes them train every day. Liverpool travel to Crystal Palace on Saturday for a lunchtime start against the Eagles at Selhurst Park.

It comes after the Reds faced Bologna in a Champions League tie on Wednesday night at Anfield. TNT Sports will only not select a team for the early slot if they’ve played away in Europe on the Wednesday.

Slot’s predecessor Jurgen Klopp regularly bemoaned the amount of time Liverpool were picked for the early slot. Since the 2017-18 season, the Reds have been picked 40 times for 12.30pm. With 30 of them being away games.

Image: Getty Images) Getty Images)

What XI should Liverpool select vs Crystal Palace? Share your thoughts in the comments below

The former Feyenoord boss said: “In general the league where I am coming from in Holland there they are more aware and try to help the teams playing in Europe more. But to be fair to the English FA the schedule here is so tight it is more difficult and it has something to do with the television stations.

“I think they can pick which team they can play 12.30. I don’t think it has so much to do with the 12.30 kick off but every away game is difficult. You can argue it is 12.30 or just every away game, we can come up with Newcastle, Nottingham Forest, others where there are last-minute winners.

“Because we play so many times at 12.30, people talk about 12.30. If 12.30 is a stupid time to perform, then I am a really stupid manager because we train every day at 12. I don’t see it as difficult performing at that time.”

Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.

Click here to read article