Arne Slot highlights the one major difference between Liverpool and Arsenal - 'Can safely say'

Arne Slot

Arne Slot says he "can safely say" Liverpool would be much closer to Premier Leagueleaders Arsenal if the disparity in set-piece goals between the teams was not as great this season.

the Reds boss has reiterated his frustration with the inability to defend dead balls as they prepare to visit a Mikel Ateta side known for their set-piece prowess on Thursday night.

Liverpool have conceded 12 league goals from set-pieces so far this term and travel to an Gunners outfit who, in 2025, became just the second team of the Premier League era to register 20 or more goalfrom dead-ball situations, excluding penalties, in successive calendar years.

The champions' struggles with defending high balls into the penalty area eventually led to Aaron Briggs, the club's set-piece coach, leaving the club shortly before the New Year and Slot has talked up the importance of the numbers on the two clubs' respective campaigns.

Slot

"Margins in football are really small,"

"I’m not saying we deserve to be right up there with Arsenal, not at all.

“But I think I can safely and fairly say that we deserved more. In a normal world we would have had six, eight, nine points more – I’m talking about the late goals we’ve conceded and other things.

"I don’t think the gap between them and us is 14 points but they deserve to be above us because they definitely have a better season than us.

"Of course one of the things that leads to such a big margin is something I’ve said 100 times already – if one team has a plus-10 in set pieces and the other is on minus 11 then it is quite hard to compete.

"I watched Coventry v Birmingham on our way to Fulham and I saw a stat that said Coventry had scored something like 21 goals from set-pieces and the number two in the league only scored 13.

"With all the things we can improve that is the area we have to improve but, again, we conceded the throw-in that led to us drawing that game at Fulham whereas Arsenal won that game 1-0 with a set-piece.

"If you go to Arsenal, or any game in the Premier League, then you need to defend incredibly well to get a result.

“So that is what we have to do tomorrow, which is even harder than any other game because of all the attacking power they have on the pitch and off the bench.

"So you have to have a perfect defensive performance in open play but definitely also in set-pieces. But that doesn't mean you can have a perfect defensive performance with wingers.

"It is not said you can only have a defensive performance with 10 defenders, but your wingers have to defend a lot because their full-backs also attack a lot.

“But that is not only Arsenal, all Premier League full-backs attack a lot. We need a good defensive performance to get a result."

Slot added: "Arsenal also play attacking football and they are good in a lot of things. They kept the team together for so long, constantly added players, and they are getting stronger and stronger.

"I think that game (1-0 at Anfield in August) was probably seen as boring from both sides because both teams did so well defensively, not by going to a low block because both teams pressed each other high.

"Both teams tried to bring the ball out from the back and tried to find that open midfielder but both teams defended so well that it was hard to get a chance. My football is Liverpool versus Paris Saint Germain.

"That is how I would love to have every single game but you need to have two teams to have an open game of football and not all these things that don’t make a game of football nice.

“But that’s nothing to do with that Arsenal game, defences were just better that day and that also happens in football."

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