Arne Slot insisted Liverpool were not experiencing a dip in form but he acknowledged they must return to their clinical best to restore their winning habit after an entertaining 2-2 draw at Aston Villa. Slot conceded Darwin Núñez was “down and disappointed” after missing a golden chance to give his side a 3-2 lead following Trent Alexander-Arnold’s second-half equaliser. Liverpool had to settle for a point that leaves them eight points clear of second-placed Arsenal, who have a game in hand and host West Ham on Saturday.
Liverpool, who travel to Manchester City on Sunday, have taken one win from their past four games, including a shock FA Cup exit against the Championship strugglers Plymouth, but remain unbeaten away in the Premier League this season. Asked if his team were in a blip, the Liverpool head coach replied: “I don’t feel like that at all. If you go away to Villa, that’s always a difficult fixture. At the start of the season you know: ‘Villa away, that’s a difficult one, City away, that’s a difficult one.’ So performance-wise, not a dip at all today, in my opinion, but you might disagree.
“What we must not do and we’ve done a bit too often now, is we don’t get what we deserve. If you look at all the chances and put them in a row, from us and from them, I think it’s clear which team should have won. “We must not make a habit out of that because it’s happened a bit too much now. But still we are eight points clear of Arsenal, who have a game in hand.”.
Núñez, who came on in place of Diogo Jota with a quarter of the game to go, spurned a golden chance after Dominik Szoboszlai squared the ball to him. Slot said: “I saw an unbelievable pass from Conor Bradley, a powerful run from Dominik Szoboszlai, who made in my opinion the perfect choice to square because he made it an open-goal chance and then Darwin, it was not the best, he’s right-footed, of course, but it’s still a big chance.
Sign up to Football Daily. Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football. after newsletter promotion. “I was hoping he would get another chance. We were all disappointed but it’s normal that a player like this is a bit more disappointed. There is one player in the dressing room who feels quite down. You know who it is.”.
