‘My philosophy hasn’t changed’ stresses Slot as Liverpool held by Fulham
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And Slot said Ekitike has not trained with the squad ahead of the trip to North London.
“He hasn’t trained with us up until now,” the Dutch coach told a press conference. “Let’s see if he can train with us today.
“Two or three days ago, when we played against Fulham, I said he wouldn’t be out for long but it’s hard because the games come so fast.
“He is in between, maybe training with the team or it maybe taking him one or two days extra.”
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‘I fully understand’ – Slot backs Wirtz during adaptation period
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The Reds are fourth ahead of Thursday’s clash with the Gunners and on an impressive run of nine games without a defeat across all competitions.
Liverpool find themselves 14 points behind the league leaders after a tough Autumn that saw them suffer nine defeats in 12 matches between September 27 and November 26.
Slot was full of praise for his side’s opponents and said the Gunners deserve to be in first place after an excellent first half of the season.
“I guess their main strength is that they have so many strengths,” he said.
“Their main strength is probably that they don’t have anything that is their weakness.
“They hardly concede goals, they can score from open play, they can score from set pieces, they have very good ideas when it comes to the build-up, they can play with long balls as well – they are the complete package.
“For that reason, in my opinion, they deserve to be on top this season.”
They will play their final two matches in the league phase against Marseille and Qarabag later this month.
Liverpool are also set to start their FA Cup campaign in January, and Slot said he believes his team can still win trophies during the 2025/26 campaign.
“This club has shown so many times that when they don’t have the greatest form in the league, they are still able to win other trophies,” he added.
“It is always possible because we have a very good and talented group. We have shown that we compete with almost every team.
“We just haven’t had consistency against the clubs where we would usually win, which adds to the fact that we are now 14 points behind Arsenal.”
