Slot not ready to call it done and dusted

LIVERPOOL, England — If the joyous fans at Anfield on Wednesday celebrated as if they were witnessing a Premier League title in the making, neither Liverpool boss Arne Slot nor his players were getting carried away in what has been an outstanding season, but one that is far from over.

The league leader climbed 13 points clear at the top of the league table with its 2-0 victory over Newcastle United and even the driving rain could not dampen the celebratory mood of the Liverpool fans.

When asked when he might see a glimmer of light, however, Slot said: "Indeed, it's still a long way to go, 10 games, and we have the (League Cup) final of course and two very important games against Paris St Germain, so we're not focused on the long term.

"And now I think the players have two days off, so Saturday, we go back and focus on Paris St Germain more than we focus on the league table in the Premier League."

Liverpool, who topped the Champions League table after the eight-game league phase, heads to Paris to play PSG in the first leg of their last-16 tie next Wednesday.

Slot's men have been a picture of consistency, undefeated in 27 of their 28 league matches this season. Wednesday's victory was their 32nd in 43 games across all competitions, the most victories by a team in one of Europe's top five leagues.

Their win over Newcastle came courtesy of goals from Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister, and Szoboszlai agreed with Slot that there was no room for breathing easy yet.

"After mathematically they (Arsenal) do not have any chance to get us," the midfielder said. "We're really happy that we are 13 points clear but we just focus on ourselves. We have Champions League coming up so we have to focus on that too. We are looking forward to staying at the top of the table."

Asked about the chance to hoist several trophies this season, the Hungarian was hesitant to say much.

"When I came to Liverpool I wanted to win everything in my first season. So I don't like to talk about it," Szoboszlai said. "First we have a Champions League game to prepare and then a Premier League game and then we have a cup final against a really tough team (League Cup final on March 16 against Newcastle).

"We have to be ready and focus first on Champions League and then the final after that."

Extending gap

Slot's men extended their lead over second-placed Arsenal, who has a game in hand but lost further ground after being held to a 0-0 draw by Nottingham Forest. Newcastle slipped one spot to sixth, three points behind fourth-placed Manchester City.

Szoboszlai struck in the 11th minute at a rain-drenched Anfield when Luis Diaz worked the ball down the left before cutting it back for the unmarked Hungarian, whom Newcastle's Sandro Tonali had allowed to dart away into space.

The midfielder fired home a close-range shot that sailed through two sets of legs and past goalkeeper Nick Pope, the first time he has scored in back-to-back games for Liverpool.

Newcastle was better after the break, but Mac Allister doubled the home side's lead in the 63rd minute, when Mohamed Salah cut the ball back for the Argentinian, who punished the visitor for its sloppy defending with a blistering shot into the top corner.

"It is the desire, the desire to win trophies," Mac Allister told TNT Sports about his team's consistency. "We know that this season we have maybe the opportunity to win some, so we are really happy working really hard, and hopefully we can keep on going."

The Anfield faithful celebrated Mac Allister's goal by breaking into a chorus of "We're going to win the league", while the television camera panned to Slot, forced to sit in the stands due to a touchline ban, jubilantly pumping his fists.

The manager served the first of a two-game suspension on Wednesday for a red card he was shown after the final whistle of the chaotic recent Merseyside derby and his assistant John Heitinga was in the dugout in Slot's place.

Eddie Howe's team suffered a huge blow before the game with Alexander Isak, who has scored 21 goals this season across all competitions, was ruled out with a groin injury.

Howe said it was not a "bad performance in any way" from his side.

"But with the two goals we could have done much better," he added. "Both were passes into our box that we did not get tight enough to their midfielders which is frustrating really."

Agencies