Arne Slot has joked that he might use Chelsea’s spending to put pressure on Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group heading into the January transfer window. The Londoners have spent comfortably over £1bn since a Todd Boehly-led consortium bought the club in 2022.

In contrast, Federico Chiesa remains Slot's only signing as Reds head coach after the Italian made a £10m switch from Juventus back in August. A £29m deal was also agreed with Valencia for Giorgi Mamardashvili, but that will not officially be completed until next summer.

Slot has enjoyed a remarkable first half-season at Anfield since taking over from Jurgen Klopp, winning 20 of his first 24 matches and losing just once.

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Meanwhile, his side sit two points clear at the top of the Premier League table with a game in hand, top of the Champions League table and on the verge of sealing a place in the round-of-16, and progressed to the League Cup semi-finals earlier this week.

However, Liverpool could lose top spot in the Premier League at Christmas depending on their result away at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, with Chelsea, who travel to Everton in the earlier kick-off, capable of overtaking the Reds prior to kick-off in North London.

Slot has repeatedly backed his squad’s strength, even when their limited summer transfer business came under scrutiny, with his first half-season ultimately proving such faith well-placed.

And while he joked that he might bring up Chelsea’s spending with FSG, he is pleased that his squad - which contains a number of academy talents - have proven you can also compete without spending the same vast amount of money as their current closest challengers.

“Bringing players in is always a process about making the smart decision to make,” he said. “If it’s true what you say (Jurgen Klopp didn’t sign anyone significant in summer of 2019 before winning title), maybe the owners might think, ‘okay, the best thing is to bring no players in!’

“Maybe I should be happy with how Chelsea does at the moment, that I can tell the owners, ‘yeah, but if you bring in for £1.2billion it is also a possibility to be successful!’.

“There is not only one way, that is what makes this league table interesting. There is one team who didn’t do anything in the summer except Chiesa who hasn’t played a lot yet, and one team which spent (exhales breath), and is also successful.

“It makes it interesting there are several ways of being successful. It is also nice and it’s also an identity to first look at your players and your academy and see what that brings.

“That makes football such an entertaining world that you can be successful in different ways. I think it is good for everyone that we are at the moment competing right up there.

“It is not only given to the ones that spent numerous amount of money but you can also be successful if you just stay with the team you have and look at your academy a lot.”