Arne Slot sends message to Liverpool doubters after going 13 points clear at the top

Arne Slot hailed his side’s monster mentality as Liverpool moved 13 points clear in the Premier League title race after they cruised past Newcastle last night.

Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister scored in either half as the Reds roared further ahead of Arsenal with 10 games to go. There’s still a quarter of the campaign to go but it feels like the title race is already over before even March rolls around.

Liverpool beat champions Manchester City on Sunday before last night’s win a week on from a draw with Aston Villa which had some questioning their title credentials. Slot said: “I think what impressed me most was the mental strength in both games.”

Liverpool have now played five big games in 15 days, scored 10 goals, conceded five, won three and drawn two. The run started with a draw with Everton before a win over Wolves, draw with Villa, and now victories against City and Newcastle.

They are now unbeaten in 24 games with 10 to go.

Slot added: “After Everton and Wolves people start to question us a bit but if you get a lot of compliments you get complacent. “We weren’t perfect but the mentality was great again.”

Reds boss Slot and assistant Sipke Hulshof were not on the touchline after receiving a two-match ban for their conduct following the recent Merseyside Derby.

Slot said: “It is less emotional because you don’t feel the emotions or energy of the players.”

Liverpool will now enjoy a rare weekend off, with players given two days to recover before attention turns towards Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League. And while Slot is grateful for the brief pause, he did concede that it was a blow to the bit-part players who would have been afforded the chance to play.

Asked if the break was a luxury, he said: "That is true. Although I would have loved to play because the likes of Harvey Elliott, Jarell Quansah, Federico Chiesa, for them it would have been really good to have a game. But unfortunately we lost to Plymouth and so we have the weekend off, so for players like Virgil [van Dijk] and Mo [Salah] this is very good.

"But the situation is as we accept it and we train Saturday and then focus on Wednesday."

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe admitted the loss of Alexander Isak was huge but he is confident the striker will be fit for the Carabao Cup final on March 16 when they meet Liverpool again.

He said: “It goes without saying how important he is and I think you could see that. It was a late decision, around midday, he didn’t feel right in his groin. With big games coming up we didn’t want to take any risks.”

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