Arne Slot praised the work Richard Hughes did at Bournemouth as the Liverpool head coach gears up to face one of the Premier League's most in-form teams this weekend.

The Cherries are flying high in the top flight, having not lost a match since November, with their last three matches seeing them draw away to Chelsea, and thrash Champions League hopefuls Newcastle and Nottingham Forest.

Liverpool sporting director Hughes was at Bournemouth for 10 years, eight of which were spent as its technical director, prior to making the move to Anfield, and Slot believes his colleague deserves a lot of credit for how well Andoni Iraola's side is doing this season.

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“The second half we played against them [during the reverse fixture last September, which Liverpool won 3-0] showed me they are a serious team,” said Slot. “If you are 3-0 down and can keep competing and working that hard in the second half that tells you a lot about the mentality of the team.

“Combined with the quality they have – Richard left that club in a very, very good place, not only with the quality of the players they have but because he hired a very good manager – that’s why it’s no surprise to me that they are able to compete with every single team in the league.”

Hughes was heavily involved in recruitment at Bournemouth, and Slot credited him with the decision to bring Iraola to the Premier League after the Cherries sacked Gary O'Neil in 2023.

“They have beaten so many strong teams,” said Slot. “There is a simple reason for that: they have a lot, a lot of quality - created by Richard of course.

“He hired a fantastic manager. Why is he fantastic? Well, he has a great game plan and his players work incredibly hard. And in a different way to Arsenal they are a threat on set-pieces.

“They always come up with worked ones that are very useful for them. In every department, they are a very, very strong team. They deserve to be where they are and maybe even a bit higher than that.”