Arne Slot believes it is still too early to judge Liverpool's title chances with more than half of the Premier League season still to play.
The Reds are top of the pile ahead of this weekend's matches and are two points ahead of second-place Chelsea, with a game in hand on Enzo Maresca's side.
Liverpool have lost just once under Slot since he took charge at the start of the season – a 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest. They are unbeaten in eleven games since then, but have dropped points in their last two games.
Liverpool's win against Tottenham puts them top of the Premier League at Christmas for the first time since 2020/21. However, they have only won the title in one of the last seven top-flight campaigns in which they have topped the table at Christmas, and they did so in 2019-2020.
Despite their strong position, Slot refused to look too far ahead.
“Assess the table after 19 matches [the halfway point] because then everyone has played against the same opponents,” Slot told reporters on Friday.
“We were probably a bit lucky. For example, Arsenal received a lot of red cards at the beginning of the season. That's why they dropped points.”
“We have now received a red card and we have dropped points. We now have Tottenham away, which Arsenal had at the start of the season; Chelsea were already playing there.
“Don't look at where you were in the season, it's about where you are at the end of the season.”
On target pic.twitter.com/80lka1UVSQ
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 20, 2024
Liverpool travel to Spurs on Sunday after also playing them in the EFL Cup semi-final earlier this week.
Spurs are in 10th place after a season of mixed results. Their emphatic 5-0 win over Southampton last weekend followed a run of five games without a win in all competitions, while they are the second highest scorers in the league. (36) behind Chelsea.
Ange Postecoglou is under scrutiny this season, but Slot says he is a big fan of the Australian and hopes he can win silverware.
'It's great work that Ange is doing. I hope, hope, hope he does [Postecoglou] wins a trophy – not the League Cup, but I absolutely love his team for the Europa League,” said Slot.
“People talk about trophies, trophies, trophies and that's so important. For me, his brand of football is so much more important.
“If he can combine it with winning something, that would be so good for football in general because then people can stop talking about 'is it too attacking?' How on earth can you play too much attacking football?
“I think it's a privilege to be a season ticket holder at Tottenham and to be a fan of them at the moment because they play such a great style.”
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