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Arne Slot has done the unexpected - now the truth about Liverpool is set to emerge

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 9: Arne Slot manager / head coach of Liverpool ahead of the Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Aston Villa FC at Anfield on November 9, 2024 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
-Credit: (Image: by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)


If Liverpool's detractors were hoping the period between the October and November international breaks would have adversely defined their season, then there would have been plenty of grumbles when the final whistle went against Aston Villa. Rather than suffocate under the weight of pressure that games with Chelsea, Arsenal, Brighton and Villa brought alongside continental clashes with Bundesliga pair RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen, Arne Slot's side instead soared to the top of both the Premier League and Champions League table.

Throw in a hard-earned victory at Brighton to set up a Carabao Cup quarter-final and another trip to the south coast at Southampton next month, and a run of six wins from seven, including a point at Arsenal, was a hugely impressive return.

That stretch might not have had the potential to make Liverpool's season as such, but it certainly carried enough jeopardy to break it.

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So the fact the Reds emerged from a punishing period as Premier League and Champions League leaders, with a five-point cushion over Manchester City in the former to boot, must be considered hugely encouraging. So much so, in fact, that some expectations are now being redrawn on the back of that polished sequence.

Slot has always insisted he has held no public or private set of targets for his maiden season in the Premier League but have initial hopes of a top-four finish for a club in a state of flux back in the summer now been altered inside the fanbase itself?

Before dreams turn to demands, however, an even more important period now awaits the Reds. A clash with rock-bottom Southampton might appear to be a gentle enough reintroduction but next week is the sort of one that could yet represent the premise of a Hollywood blockbuster when Real Madrid and then Manchester City visit Anfield.

Slot, of course, was wary of fixing his gaze too far past St Mary's, even if fans should be permitted to conjure up their own hopes about what might happen in those games with Real and City at home. It promises to be quite the week, whatever happens.

"Everyone is looking at Real Madrid and Man City, but this will be tough too on Sunday," Slot said on Friday with sincerity. "They also saw because they follow football as well how difficult Southampton made it for Arsenal and for Man City to get a win."

From there, a difficult assignment at Newcastle awaits before a similarly problematic trip to Everton, for what is the final Merseyside derby at Goodison Park. The most hostile of environments will await a group of players who must be determined to put right their flimsy wilting at the same venue back in April, when they were forced to listen to taunts of 'losing the league' at the home of their local rivals.

With no free midweek now until 2025, it's time for Slot's players to take a deep breath and plunge themselves head first into the sort of run that will ramp up the New Year's excitement to levels not seen for a number of years, should they negotiate it with the same panache as the last set of fixtures.

Before that can be talked up, though, Liverpool will need to walk the walk. Naysayers had their comments thrown back at them with some force after six wins and a draw from the October-November period, but we're about to find out even more about the real capabilities of Slot's team.