Leeds boss Daniel Farke points at Florian Wirtz in Liverpool title race vow - 'Fear the worst'

Arne Slot and Leeds United. manager Daniel Farke

Daniel Farke admits it would be easy to ‘fear the worst’ ahead of Leeds United’s trip to Liverpool, believing the Reds have put themselves back in the title-race since the 3-3 draw between the two sides at Elland Road at the start of December.

Arne Slot’s side currently sit fourth in the Premier League table and have put together a seven-game unbeaten run in all competitions.

While they trail league-leaders Arsenal by 13 points, having played a game less, they can close the gap on third-placed Aston Villa to four points with a win over Leeds on New Year’s Day

A victory would also see them move five points clear of Chelsea and Manchester United, who currently sit fifth and sixth in the table respectively, after the pair both dropped points on Tuesday night.

Liverpool will be without the likes of Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak for Thursday evening’s game, with the Egyptian currently away at the Africa Cup of Nations and the Swede sidelined after undergoing surgery on a fractured leg.

But Conroy is adamant such absences do not make it a good time to face the Reds, pointing to the form of Hugo Ektike and Florian Wirtz in particular as he made a point of highlighting how the German cost more than all of his summer signings put together when joining Liverpool in an £116m deal from Bayer Leverkusen.

Farke

“No, I don’t think so, (it’s not a good time to play Liverpool despite their absences),”

“Because when I have a look at the squad and who is playing in the offensive positions, you could fear the worst.

“They have Ekitike. I know him also from Germany and it’s an impressive start to life at Liverpool, in red hot form.

“Florian Wirtz is a player of unbelievable potential. I think just he alone cost more money that we spent in the whole summer for all of our signings.

“We don’t have to speak about all the other options who are there for the offence. Sometimes it's even beneficial when you don’t have too many options and too many competitions for the confidence of the offensive players.

“If one or two are not available, I don’t think it changes anything from the quality Liverpool has.

Farke continued

“They’re back more or less in the top positions in the league. We don’t have to speak about their potential, about their individual quality.

“They have dominated the league last season like rarely a different team has done in the years before.

“Reigning champions and have a chance also to be back involved in the title-race. Impressive performances, impressive results in the last weeks.

“In these circumstances, in this moment, to go on New Year’s Day to Anfield is more or less one of the most challenging and difficult tasks that you can have.

“We are very respectful and very aware of their strengths, but also not in fear. We know if we are there with a top performance, then even there we have a chance.”

Ao Tanaka scored a 96th minute equaliser for Leeds when they hosted Liverpool just a few weeks ago, with the Whites also recovering from 2-0 down to earn a share of the spoils against the Reds.

Having been left as an unused substitute, Salah made headlines after the final whistle as he hit out at both Slot and the club, claiming his relationship with his head coach had completely broken down and he was being ‘thrown under the bus’ for Liverpool’s poor campaign up to that point.

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