Arne Slot warns against snap judgements as Liverpool prepare for testing week

Liverpool are top of the English flight with six wins from the opening seven games of the Premier League. The Reds have had a relatively kind calendar list so far under new manager Arne Slot, though that will quickly change Sunday. Liverpool face Chelsea, before going up against RB Leipzig in the Champions League midweek and lastly, they see themselves traveling to Arsenal next week. Over the coming weeks they also play against Brighton, Aston Villa and Manchester City in the Premier League, while in the Champions League, they host Bayern Leverkusen and Real Madrid at Anfield.
Ahead of the clash against Chelsea, Slot was asked whether Enzo Maresca's men, who currently sit fourth in the league, would be their hardest opponent so far. "If you look at the league table it is," he said during Friday's press conference. "I think Manchester United (Liverpool won 3-0) is a very good team, a top club in England that has spent a lot of money to make the team better again, same for Chelsea in this season.
"Chelsea does really well, so if you look at the league table then they are the ones that might be our toughest opponent but it's not always about the league table sometimes, it's about the form on the day, it's about their game plan. We had some difficulties with Wolves as well, who are bottom of the league, but it is a challenge that's for sure," he added.
Former Feyenoord manager Slot, who has been in red-hot form since replacing Jurgen Klopp, has warned against reading too much into results over a short spell. "If you judge your team only on a week that would not be fair," he said. "You have to judge as a team after this spell of games, not three of them but six, seven or eight of them, then we know better how we act and how we perform."
"If we play tough Champions League games and tough league games, it's normal in everybody's season and we know how difficult it is," he explained. The only ones who showed they could perform Champions League and in the league are Manchester City and Arsenal in the last two seasons. Now it's up to us but I don't think it's fair to judge us after a week, even if we play really well it wouldn't be fair. The best way to judge us is in four weeks."
Speaking on injured goalkeeper Alisson Becker, Slot confirmed that the Brazilian will be on the sidelines for the coming weeks. "That's a blow for him and for us because he did really well this season and has done so well for this club for so many years," he revealed. "Now the good thing is Caoimhin (Kelleher) did really well for us in previous years, in this season also, so we have a good replacement but you always want all your players now."