Every word of Arne Slot’s press conference ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League game against Manchester City

Fresh from the victory over Real Madrid, Liverpool's focus turns back to the Premier League and the visit of Manchester City on Sunday.

Arne Slot was back in the hotseat at the AXA Training Center this afternoon – just hours after answering questions from the media following Liverpool's 2-0 win over Real Madrid in the Champions League.

The Reds manager was clearly pleased with the result, a win against the reigning and 15-time champions, but pointed out that other equally tough tests are soon to come.

The match against Madrid started a demanding run of fixtures for Liverpool, who entertain Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday before traveling to Newcastle and then Everton. The derby match will be important because it is the last one to be played at Goodison (at least in the league) and for that reason their city rivals will be looking forward to it even more than usual.

But for now, the leaders are focusing on the next big battle: against Guardiola's City. This is what Slot had to say during this afternoon's press conference.

Arne, last night Jude Bellingham said Liverpool are the best performing team in Europe. So, where does your side stand?

Yes, when he talks about results in the Champions League – so if you are number one in the Champions League in the rankings, then it is true that when it comes to results, we have been in the last five matches if it it's about results. results, we have been the best performing team in the last five games. But I said it yesterday: the best team in Europe is still Real Madrid, because they won the Champions League last season, and whoever wins the Champions League this season can say so. But at the moment it's only five games for us.

We talked about it last night – Conor and Ibrahima's injuries – any updates on them and whether they will be out for Sunday's game?

They're still being assessed, so it's hard to see where they are – in terms of the injury… Let's wait and see. It's never a good sign when you have to take players away. Ibou did not walk off the field as he should after such a fantastic match he played. He should have taken a lap of honor and clapped the fans, but unfortunately he didn't, so that's not a good sign.

The team is currently eight points ahead and Manchester City looks vulnerable given their recent form. There is a chance to stay clear by eleven points, otherwise the gap could be reduced to five… How decisive could Sunday's match be in the title race?

I think that in general when you play against one of your competitors it is always an important moment that has not so much to do with the number of points they or we have. These teams have always been very close to each other in recent years, so those matches are always very important. Just like the ones against Arsenal and Chelsea, but they are only important if you beat all the other teams, so that makes almost every match very important to win – for them but also for us.

To be clear, are you excluding them, like Bradley and Konaté, from this game?

No, I just said they are still under review. It's so close after yesterday's game. I've just come from the training ground so I can't tell you exactly where they are. We have to wait and see.

Will Trent be fit enough to start?

Yes, he will.

You said about City's form: do you think it makes your job easier or harder for this particular match…

No, I don't think anyone in the last eight or nine years, or maybe even longer, would have said that City, home or away, the word 'easy' never comes to mind when I think of City – neither easy nor easier. No, not at all. And I know everyone looks at their results and I've seen them too, but when you face them – and that's what we do – you analyze it and I saw, for example, against Brighton they were 1-0 up and had could score for two or three-nil, did not do so and were then defeated 2-1.

Against Tottenham they could have been two or three goals ahead after twenty minutes, but that was not the case. And that didn't happen often against Feyenoord: they were 3-0 up, completely dominated the match and then it was suddenly 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 – or one of the best managers in the world, but I think the best though – is that he always comes up with solutions to his problems. And his problem now could be that Rodri is out, but we all know, at least I think, that he will come up with a solution and their form will disappear again – hopefully after Sunday.

It seemed that the players were quite confused by the atmosphere in the first half and that was accompanied by three yellow cards. There was a moment when Curtis Jones signaled to his teammates to maybe keep their heads down and watch out for those bookings…

Especially if you have a yellow card you have to watch out for the next one, but I think one of the three was Ryan Gravenberch, who only made a simple tackle, or not for a yellow card, but then he made a gesture and the referees want a yellow card there for giving. And he also gave a yellow card for the first two fouls we committed. I think in these matches you have to be at the top of your game in every aspect so you have to play fair and good matches and sometimes that can lead to a yellow card but once you get one you have to be smart and that's what I saw with Ryan and that's what I saw with Darwin [Núñez] also – because the person who faced Darwin was also in the game situation and they were having a bit of a hard time and the referee felt it necessary to give yellow cards.

So we have to be at the top of our game, we have to be aggressive, but always in a good way. But maybe what Curtis meant, I don't know, we have to ask him, but it's not just without the ball but also with the ball – be a little calmer and use your head a little more because that's what we did in the second half even better than the first, which led to two goals.

I know we have talked about injuries, it has come up with you in previous matches: injuries to opponents and the players they may be missing. Do you think Liverpool's injuries have been a bit under-exposed this season as you have overcome them quite well…

I think people generally only talk about injuries when the results aren't there, so it's a good thing no one talked about our injuries. That means we have our results in. But the moment you start to lose, it's about a Saturday afternoon kick-off or it's about injuries or we always come up with certain ideas as to why, especially me, and why we did that.' t win. But nine times out of ten it's about the quality of the other team's players or their game plan.

But we do have some very important players who are injured, but when the replacements are doing so well it is normal that people don't talk about it so much. It is true that missing Alisson, who has been a starter for this club and has been so important for this club for so long, missing Diogo Jota, missing Trent in the last two games… these are players who have had a great impact on the results of recent years. But it's a good thing we don't talk about it, I guess.

What is Caoimhin Kelleher's future at this club, given the performances he has delivered? Do you think he'll be happy if he becomes second choice again?

I expect that every player wants to be number 1, not only in the goalkeeper position, but in every position. It is always up to the player whether he can accept his role. At the moment, Caoimhin has accepted his role in a great way from the beginning of the season until now – when he didn't play, but also when he did play, so it's way too early to talk about what might happen next season . I want every player to play every game. It would be completely wrong if he had come to me and said, “I like being on the couch today.” That's completely normal for him and everyone else.

But it's always about the attitude when you're not playing, and that was excellent. For example from Lucho and Macca last Sunday, when they were not selected in the first XI and then they come in very strong. Yesterday I saw the same thing again with Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo so… They should have the eagerness to play, but if they don't, they have to behave normally and that's what they are all doing at the moment.

One of the hallmarks of City's run has been conceding late goals – six goals in the last 15 minutes of the last three games. That's something Liverpool haven't done all season. What is your team doing so well to prevent that?

Don't play against Tottenham yet! Because they are also a very good team, great playing style. No, it always depends on the circumstances. The fact that they got three against Feyenoord probably had a lot to do with the substitutions they made and the enormous bad luck they had. If you saw the first goal and the second goal. With the second goal, the goalkeeper hit the ball towards the post and it fell to Santiago Giménez.

During a season these things can happen to any team, it's the same with injuries. We saw this at Arsenal when Ødegaard was out. That didn't help them. With Rodri out it didn't help City.

So I hope we don't face the same problems, but if we do, we have to make sure it doesn't hurt us so much. But it is always difficult for any manager, anywhere in the world, when one of your star players gets injured.

When it comes to conceding goals, it is always the circumstances of being 2-0 down and perhaps taking a lot of risk. Then conceding is different from being 1-0 up and trying to keep a clean sheet.

Do you expect Guardiola to change his system to counter the loss of players like Rodri?

I just said that. I wouldn't be surprised if he comes up with another brilliant idea. I think he was the one who started playing the inverted fullback. Then he was the one who started playing as a center back as number six.

So I don't think it will be a surprise to anyone if he comes up with something that no one has ever thought about to make his team even stronger.

And that's probably one of the reasons why he inspired so many managers around the world with all these things… When he came up with it, we all thought it was crazy, and then he did it and then we all thought : 'Okay.' Let's try to do the same, because it's a brilliant idea.'

So I wouldn't be surprised if he comes up with something new again, but let's wait and see because a lot has been done in football. If there is anyone in this management world who can come up with something new, it is him.