Liverpool boss Slot targets Arsenal scalp

The Reds are enjoying a stellar season so far with seven wins out of eight matches

LONDON:

Arne Slot says his Liverpool team are "matching his expectations" after their flying start to the season as he prepares for a tough test against Arsenal.

The Reds are top of the Premier League with seven wins in their first eight matches and have also won all three of their Champions League games so far.

On Sunday Slot takes his side to face Arsenal with the chance to move seven points clear of the Gunners.

He told reporters on Friday that he was expecting a tough test at the Emirates against Mikel Arteta's men, who are missing key players.

"If you look at the last two seasons, Arsenal were far ahead of us, but also above Chelsea (whom Liverpool beat 2-1 last week)," he said.

"So you would assume that playing Arsenal would be even more difficult, but let's see at the end of the season where Chelsea and Arsenal both are.

"Normally you would expect, especially because it's also an away game, that this one is even more difficult than Chelsea at home, and we all saw how difficult Chelsea at home was."

Last season Liverpool took just three points from their four games against champions Manchester City and Arsenal, who finished second.

"We all know that taking points from your competitors, and nobody knows in this early stage who is going to be your biggest competitor, but I think we all know that Arsenal will be one of them," said Slot.

The Dutchman, who is in his first season at Anfield after taking over from Jurgen Klopp, was asked whether he was meeting the targets he had set himself.

"It wasn't like I was on my holiday thinking, 'OK, after 10 games how many points do I want to have?'," he said.

"No, the only thing I was thinking of was how am I going to try to bring the best out of this team that has been done for so long by Jurgen, and how can we continue that, and how am I going to do the individual meetings with the players, the team meetings with the players, and you don't think about points."

He added: "I didn't have expectations coming in when it comes to the amount of points we needed to have after one, two, three or 10 games.

"But there were expectations from me the way I wanted to see the team playing, and I think that is matching my expectations at the moment."

Injured forward Diogo Jota will miss the trip to London while goalkeeper Alisson Becker remains out of action.

Spurs captain Son likely to miss Palace trip

Tottenham Hotspur will likely be without their captain for the second match in a row with forward Son Heung-min set to miss this weekend's trip to Crystal Palace in the Premier League, manager Ange Postecoglou said on Friday.

Son, who missed South Korea's World Cup qualifiers this month following a hamstring injury, felt sore after scoring in last weekend's win over West Ham United and was left out of Thursday's Europa League clash with AZ Alkmaar.

"Sonny is still not right. He's still not feeling 100%, so he won't train today," Postecoglou told a press conference ahead of Sunday's match. "He's unlikely for the weekend and we'll see how he is beyond that."

Postecoglou, however, was happy with how midfielder James Maddison stepped up to lead the team as Spurs notched up a 1-0 win over the Dutch side.

"He's a vice-captain, one of our leaders," the manager said. Spurs, seventh in the league with 13 points from eight matches, have struggled to build a winning streak. But the 59-year-old, who joined last year, said the team was more consistent than last season, when they finished fifth.

"Results last year were great and playing on a lot on enthusiasm and energy we had. But I knew that wasn't sustainable and pretty quickly we found that out," he added.

However, the manager cautioned against underestimating 18th-placed Palace, who are winless in the campaign with only three points. "They're going through a tough spell, but they've still got talent in that team," he said. "You get a feeling with them that, once they do turn it around, they could go on a run like they did last year."