Undefeated in three 

©TM/IMAGO

Arne Slot passed another important test as Liverpool manager on Sunday, when his side made the trip south to North London and left with an all-important point in their 2-2 draw against Arsenal. In a match that was fiercely contested by both teams, Mikel Arteta may feel disappointed at not taking all three points, but for Slot and the Anfield club it was another strong performance in a clash with a fellow “Big Six” side. And one that keeps Liverpool within touching distance of reigning champions Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table. 

Sunday’s result now means that Liverpool have lost just one of their opening nine games of the season and dropped a grand total of five points. And what makes that solid start to the season even more impressive is the fact that Slot’s team have now beaten Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford, Chelsea 2-1 at Anfield and the aforementioned draw at the Emirates. Which not only means that Liverpool remain undefeated against the Premier League’s traditionally big clubs, but have also stepped up their game in showdowns that often saw the club drop important points under Slot’s predecessor, Jürgen Klopp. And when we compare the record of both managers in such games (using Klopp’s record against the top six teams from each season and Slot’s against the traditional “Big Six” this season) we can see just how much progress Slot has made.

Klopp’s top-six problems 

Although Klopp not only proved to be the only manager capable of breaking Pep Guardiola and Manchester City’s stranglehold over the Premier League with his title win in 2019/20, alongside two of the club’s five best points totals in Premier League history in 2018/19 and 2021/22, Liverpool undoubtedly struggled to match the pace set by Man City each and every season. In some circumstances they came extremely close (in 21/22 they finished one point off top spot), while in others they fell well off the pace set by the better teams in the league (they finished 22 points behind Man City the following season). But in just about every circumstance, what has really set Liverpool and Guardiola’s serial winners apart has been their record in the crunch games against the other clubs competing for the top six spots in the Premier League. 

When we tally up the 30 games that Liverpool played against the teams that eventually finished in the top six in each of the last three seasons, it points to a record of 11 wins, three draws and 13 defeats. And when we compare that to Liverpool’s overall form across all league games in that period, it undoubtedly shows a clear drop off in performances and, crucially, plenty of points dropped. As the graphic above shows, Liverpool’s points per game in all games over the three seasons in question stands at 2.11, but then drops to just 1.53 against top six opposition. In total, Liverpool have dropped 46 points in said games across the three league campaigns and in many cases these dropped points have cost them dearly. Naturally, the 12 points dropped in 21/22 stopped them winning the league title, while the 16 points dropped in 22/23 would have seen them move up from fifth to third and the 16 points dropped last season was considerably more than the 10-point difference between them finishing third and finishing first. 

Klopp v Slot: record in the big games for Liverpool

Of course, nobody expects Liverpool to win every single game against top-six opponents. But when we compare their record in these games to Man City’s own record, we can see where the gap lies between Guardiola’s perennial champions and the chasing pack. As the table above illustrates, Klopp’s Liverpool were the best of the rest when it came to showdowns with other teams fighting for the top six positions, but picked up eight fewer points than Man City. These, unquestionably, are incredibly fine margins. But they’re also the kind of margins that Slot knows will define his time as Liverpool manager.

When we then look at how Slot has done so far, we can quickly see why the Liverpool manager has perhaps made a concerted effort to pick up maximum points in these games. While Klopp’s win ratio againts the top six sides each season stood at just 37%, Slot’s return against Man Utd, Chelsea and now Arsenal stands at an impressive 66%. And, as we can see in the table above, that translates to Slot’s team picking up 2.33 points per game against the “Big Six”, while Klopp’s team only managed 1.53 points per game when they faced teams that finished in the top six each season. Slot’s figures will inevitably change and will need to be readressed once the Liverpool manager has faced Aston Villa, Manchester City, Newcastle and Tottenham before the end of the year. But, for now, Slot has more or less passed each and every test that he’s faced as Liverpool manager. And in many ways has improved on his predecessor’s record in the big games.