'You don’t see it a lot' - Arne Slot sends Mikel Arteta message as Arsenal face champions Liverpool

Arne Slot and Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta

Arne Slot insists Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta deserves more credit as Liverpool prepare to host the Gunners at Anfield on Sunday.

The Reds clinched the Premier League title last month with four games to spare, and currently boast a 15-point lead over the North London outfit.

Arsenal come into the clash off the back of a Champions League semi-final exit at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain, ensuring they will go trophyless for the fifth successive season.

The 2020 FA Cup remains their only piece of major silverware under Arteta

With three games left to play, Arsenal are currently two points clear of third-placed Man City in second place

Should they hold off the challenge of the trio, Arteta will have led the Gunners to a third-successive runners-up berth

The Spaniard’s record at the Emirates has been questioned as a result, but Slot has come to the defence of his Arsenal counterpart

Slot

“Everyone in this industry strives to become better the next day and the next season,”

“That’s why we go onto the training ground every day, to try to improve.

“The others will try to do it as well. Improvement can come from the training ground and it can come from bringing new players in.

“Arsenal were already very good last season - and then they brought in Raheem Sterling, Riccardo Calafiori and Mikel Merino and that made them even stronger.

“Mikel has been working there for five years and he should get, in my opinion, a lot of credit for the way his team plays.

“Arsenal can play almost every style. It is a big accomplishment to have one style, but I saw Mikel’s team play a different style at Paris Saint-Germain and another style in the home game against PSG.

“They can play off set-pieces. They can defend in a low block and be the dominant team, they can play a high-press. They can build up from the back or play the long ball.

“So every part of the game they are good - and that means it is difficult to analyse them because you don’t know what you’re going to face.

“Will they play on the ground or will they play long? Against Paris Saint-Germain, every throw-in was long and they got two very big chances.

“I think Mikel deserves a lot of credit for that because the only way you can have that is if you work at a club for so many years and not all managers who have been at clubs a long time can play so many styles.

“That is special. You don’t see it a lot.”