Arne Slot has fulfilled his media duties ahead of tomorrow's return to Premier League action as Liverpool prepares to host Ipswich.

With the Reds and Arsenal both in action at the same time on Saturday, Slot and his players will be hoping for a favor from Wolves as they look to extend their six-point advantage after another good week - although Ipswich will be looking to defy the odds at Anfield.

Liverpool has been handed a new injury blow ahead of tomorrow's game, with Curtis Jones ruled out after being forced off at half-time of Tuesday's 2-1 win over Lille. Slot will be keeping his fingers crossed no more of his players pick up knocks in their final training session, having already spoken to the media at his pre-match press conference.

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Here's everything the Liverpool boss said during his press conference, including the latest on Jones, as well as his thoughts on what more Harvey Elliott and Ibrahima Konate can do at the moment.

On Curtis Jones' injury

"He went out during half-time, so that's mostly not a good sign, and it wasn't, because he will not be available for the game tomorrow.

"The rest we have to wait and see how long it's going to take. I'm not expecting months… but let's see if he’s available for PSV or Bournemouth."

On difference with his side since first meeting with Ipswich

"Not a lot. The fact was that I only worked with 13 or 14 players for one-and-a-half weeks back then, so it hasn't been said about how difficult it is to come in in the middle of a season and try to work with a new team. To be fair, it maybe felt a bit the same for me because 12, 13 or 14 players came in one-and-a-half weeks before the start of the season.

"It's normal that, I think, we have improved compared to that game, although especially the second half performance was something quite similar to the performances I see currently."

On what to expect from Ipswich

"They've been a bit unlucky sometimes in the last moments of games. I've said this a few times recently that the second half of the season is always more difficult than the first half because some teams strengthen themselves during the winter break, some teams – not all of them but many teams – work with their manager for half a season and that normally leads to a team becoming better – and that's definitely the situation also for Ipswich, although they made it really difficult for us already in the first game of the season.

"But I think it's fair to say that they've improved during the first half here and that is also a compliment to Kieran McKenna that he already made it really difficult for us in the first game. I think the few games after were more difficult for them but then at a certain point they've become a very good team that makes it difficult for every team – except maybe their last game, which was an exception to the rule and maybe that was because [Manchester] City was City again."

On his side being called 'professional'

"It's better than them calling us amateurs!

"The amount of questions I get about Mo [Salah] and how I would describe him, so every time I have to find a new word or say something new again, that's a bit similar to what we are doing.

"Because we're doing so well, many people talk about us and it's hard to come up with something new. It's been exciting, all kinds of words have been used. The word professional is there, I don't know if it's meant positive or negative.

"What I see is that we've kept a lot of ball possession, we dominate and control every single game, and every single game we get more chances than the other team. In every game we deserve to win, or if we don't win we would have deserved it except for maybe one game, and I've said it many times, that was the Chelsea game where maybe a draw would have been more fair. But in every other game we've played, we were the dominant team - not because we go into a low block and kick every ball forward, because of a certain style. It's up to anyone how you would describe that style - professional, okay."

On what Harvey Elliott needs to do to get more starts

"Keep bringing performances in like he did and keep working as hard on the training ground as he's doing as well. I always say to the players it's not only about you, it's also about the competition you are in.

"And in his situation he's in competition with five very good midfielders that you know and there are a few youngsters coming through that are very talented as well but they are not close to playing time yet. But he's in competition with Wata [Wataru Endo], with Ryan [Gravenberch], with Curtis [Jones], with Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] and himself, so these are the midfielders we have at the moment. He has to bring performances like he does and then playing time will probably increase."

On how Ibrahima Konate can improve

"I think he's already very good. It's a centre-back that without him even touching the ball you already feel, 'quite impressive' because he's so strong and tall. I think one of the things he could improve, in my opinion at least, is his play with the ball, bringing the ball out from the back.

"I would not say he was poor in that but he could improve [and] he could go to another level. I think he works really hard to improve that and I already see this improvement.

"Defensively, he's of the highest standard. I think he's fast, he's strong, he wins duels through the air, over the ground and [he] can cover for his teammates as well if he's needed, he can play one-v-one with a lot of space in his back. So, defensively there's not a lot he could or can improve.

"But bringing the ball out from the back – which is not his single job, it's also his teammates he needs for that – was something we have worked on a lot and keep on working a lot. Not only with him but with the others as well because from all the ball possession we have, we would like to create even more chances than we are doing now and that starts from bringing the ball out from the back."

On rotating his left-backs

"If Kostas [Tsimikas] was on a completely different level than Robbo [Andy Robertson] then it would not be smart to rotate in that position or manage the load because then you drop so far in quality that it could be a risk. I don't know what Kostas' situation was last season, I know he didn't play a lot but I don't know where he was at which level.

"But from the moment I came and in our tour in the United States, he did really well. He's proved that he can play in the left full-back position as well. Since we've now got two good options, in my opinion, you can indeed see we are managing loads and rotate in that position quite a bit. Yes, that's true."

On staying patient against Ipswich

"That is difficult for fans and my father is a fan as well and when I call him after the game he can also say, 'It wasn't as exciting as other games of Liverpool' when he watched the game against Lille. And then I have to try to explain [to] him that these games you can easily lose if you are starting to force all kinds of difficult balls – but he's not always agreeing with me then!

"But as a manager, I was quite happy with our performance against Lille because they were a team so well organised and [have] so much control, and I think there was one moment in the game I can remember that Curtis tried to play on the halfway line a ball that was a bit of [a] risk and we lost that ball and they counter-attacked us. So, that's the risk you have if you play against a low-block team. [Nottingham] Forest is probably the best in the league if you play these stupid balls – which I call stupid balls [and] what my father would love to see us playing a bit more. That is the risk of them creating then much more chances.

"There's a difficult balance between taking the risk and conceding a lot, or having control [and] maybe not creating as much. But against this team, going 1-0 down – as we've seen against Forest – is an even bigger problem, especially against a low block. So, it's a balance we have to find and I can understand that it's sometimes difficult for fans as well that come to the stadium to see us winning but us hopefully scoring a lot of goals and an exciting match. But you need two teams for that and the better we do, the less likely it is that teams come to Anfield and say, 'Let's go to a high press and let's press them all over the pitch.'"