Liverpool’s form suffered again as Tottenham Hotspur beat the Reds 1-0 in the first leg of the EFL Cup semifinal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last Wednesday, January 8.
Lucas Bergvall scored the only goal of the match in the 48th minute to put his side in an advantageous position. It was only Liverpool’s second defeat of the season in all competitions.
The Reds, meanwhile, might not be too worried about the defeat, as elimination from the tournament will enable them to put their focus firmly on the Premier League and UEFA Champions League.
However, what might be slightly worrying Arne Slot is the fact that his side has now won only three of their last six matches across all competitions.
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Challenges Await as Liverpool Face a Tougher Second Half of the Season
Liverpool are comfortably ahead of their nearest rivals, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest, in the Premier League table. The Reds have a six-point lead over each of those two teams with a match in hand. At this point in time, that seems to be a pretty solid advantage.
However, there might be many a slip between the cup and the lip, as other potential candidates like Manchester City might still want to have a say on this.
Most of the smaller teams have not adopted an ultra-defensive strategy against Liverpool just as they have against Manchester City for quite some time now.
Manchester United in particular had bodies behind the ball for the majority of the time in their match against Liverpool last weekend. The Red Devils could not still stop Liverpool from scoring twice in the match but managed to escape with a draw.
There is nothing to suggest that other teams in the league will not follow that strategy against Slot’s men in their upcoming matches.
For all the brilliance in their team, Liverpool are very much reliant on the talismanic Mohamed Salah to provide that additional spark that separates them from the rest of the teams.
The other teams know very well that should they be able to contain Salah, they will be in a very good position to stop Liverpool from winning. It is not an easy task by any means, but as Manchester United showed, having a dedicated defender to stop the Egyptian might not be a bad idea. Diogo Dalot did the job really well for the Red Devils in their last match.
Liverpool have a 12-point gap over Manchester City, which seems pretty much an insurmountable lead at the moment. However, an adverse result in a few matches can turn the tables still. Slot should know that his team cannot afford any complacency at this point in time.
Liverpool still have trips to Manchester City, Nottingham Forest, Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion left among their remaining fixtures in the current season. None of those matches is going to be an easy one for them.
Slot should be very cautious in his approach and will want to avoid defeat at any cost in each of those matches. It remains to be seen whether his team is able to maintain the level they had in the first half of the season for the remainder of it.