Arne Slot has warned his Liverpool players that they need to be at their best against Leicester on Thursday night.
Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side are 17th in the table, just two points above the relegation zone, and have conceded seven goals in their last two games without conceding a goal, but Slot is taking nothing for granted.
“It’s special for these teams to go to Anfield and they know that when they go to Anfield they have to be at their best, so they never underestimate us,” said Slot, whose side are four points clear at the top.
“Hopefully that’s a good thing with the 15 minutes we had (when Liverpool conceded twice against Tottenham) which we understand we shouldn’t underestimate for one minute in the Premier League because then we’re not as good as you might think we are.”
Slot and Van Nistelrooy have a history dating back to their time in the Netherlands. Slots Feyenoord won the Dutch title in 2023, but they failed to beat Van Nistelrooy’s PSV in the league, one defeat and one draw.
“Cody Gakpo was on his team, so I’m glad he’s on my team now when we face Ruud,” Slot said.

“Ruud is a nice person. I met him once or twice. The last year and a half he did very well at PSV, they were top of the league. If you look at the second half of Ruud’s season, they only lost once. When he was there, they were Gakpo and Noni Madueke sold but still competed for the title.
During his time as a coach in the Eredivisie, Slot was used to a winter break from football, but this year he had to get used to a busy party schedule.
He told Sky Sports: “It’s different. This week there was a padel tournament organized by my brother.
“Last season I was there and then I went to Dubai for 10 days. But now I won’t go to Dubai because I have to finish some matches!”
He admitted that being away from his family over Christmas was difficult. “There are obvious reasons why we kept the children and my wife in the Netherlands as they are in their last year of school,” he said. “But in an ideal world you’re Liverpool manager and you have your family around you.”