Arne Slot channels his focus on PSG as he believe the Premier League title chase is far from over
Liverpool boss Arne Slot is paying little mind to the Premier League table, as his focus is on the upcoming Uefa Champions League tie with Paris Saint-Germain.
The Reds defeated Newcastle United, who were shorn of top scorer Alexander Isak, 2-0 at Anfield on Wednesday to go 13 points clear of Arsenal who have a game in hand.
Arne Slot watched on from the stands as he served the first game of a two-match touchline suspension after his red card against Everton earlier this month at the Goodison Park.
When asked for his thoughts on the title race, Slot told TNT Sports: “There’s still a long way to go, 10 games. Now, in the month of March, I think we only play one Premier League game.”
“We have the [EFL Cup] final, of course, the international break, and two very important games against PSG,” Slot continued.
“We’re not focused on the long term. I know, and the players who watch the French league as well, how difficult a game Paris Saint-Germain will be.
“They are in probably the same form as we are. They hardly lose. They win games by big margins and lead the league as well by a margin.
“It’s going to be a difficult task for both teams. Now the players have two days off, so on Saturday we focus on PSG, more than the league table in the Premier League.”
Liverpool are now given a 98.7% chance of winning the Premier League title by the Opta supercomputer, and though they were at times made to work by Newcastle, the match stats were hugely in the Reds’ favour.
Newcastle had only three shots, worth a combined 0.21 expected goals, while Liverpool had 12 attempts worth 1.56 xG in total.
The Magpies are winless in their last 17 Premier League games against Liverpool (D5 L11), since a 2-0 win in December 2015 under Steve McClaren.
Slot, though, does not feel this match means anything for next month’s clash at Wembley.
“I don’t think that means so much,” said the Dutchman.
“I saw a different Newcastle tonight than I saw a few months ago when we played them there. I don’t know if that’s for a reason; normally I see them press 4-5-1 and now they press 4-4-2, so maybe they do things a bit differently.
“Isak wasn’t there, Joelinton wasn’t there, so I think we can expect something different in a few weeks. But we will probably be rested a bit better then as well than we were for our fifth game in 15 days.”
READ ALSO: Potter backs €100m signee to succeed at the club
Follow AyeyiBruce for more news
