Arne Slot has said that Pep Guardiola is “the best manager in the world” and has backed the Manchester City boss to “find solutions” to his team’s recent struggles ahead of this weekend’s clash with Liverpool.
Slot’s side have an eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League table, having won 10 of their 12 games in the top-flight this season. City, meanwhile, are on their worse run of form since 2006 and are without a win in their last six matches in all competitions.
But Slot believes the reigning Premier League champions should not be underestimated and said he is expecting a tough game at Anfield on Sunday.
“I don’t think anyone in last eight or nine years or maybe even longer would have said City at home or away — the word easy comes to mind,” Slot said in a news conference on Thursday.
“I know everyone looks at their results but if you face them, and that is what we do, you analyse it. Against Brighton, they were 1-0 up, could have scored two or three and didn’t and then got beat 2-1. Against Tottenham, they could have been after 20 minutes two or three goals up.
“Against Feyenoord, that has not happened many times. They were 3-0 up, completely dominated the game and it ended up 3-3. They are still a very, very, very good team and one of the reasons why I think Pep Guardiola is the best manager in the world is he always comes up with solutions for his problems.
“His problem now might be that Rodri is out but we all know that he will come up with a solution and their run of form will go again. Hopefully it is after Sunday.”
Liverpool will be boosted by the return of Trent Alexander-Arnold against City, with Slot confirming the right-back is fit to start after recovering from a hamstring injury sustained in the 2-0 win over Aston Villa earlier this month.
However, the league leaders face a nervous wait to see whether Conor Bradley — who deputised admirably for Alexander-Arnold against Real Madrid on Wednesday — and Ibrahima Konaté will be available for selection.
“Konate and Bradley are still being assessed so it is difficult to see where they are. Let’s wait and see but it’s never a good sign [when players have to come off],” Slot said.
“I had to take Conor off and Ibou [Konaté] didn’t walk off as he should after such a fantastic game that he played. He should have made a round and clapped the fans but unfortunately he couldn’t so that’s not a good sign.”