Arne Slot insisted Liverpool were not experiencing a dip in form but he acknowledged they must return to their clinical best to restore their winning habit after an entertaining 2-2 draw at Aston Villa.
Slot conceded Darwin Núñez was “down and disappointed” after missing a golden chance to give his side a 3-2 lead following Trent Alexander-Arnold’s second-half equaliser. Liverpool had to settle for a point that leaves them eight points clear of second-placed Arsenal, who have a game in hand and host West Ham on Saturday.
Liverpool, who travel to Manchester City on Sunday, have taken one win from their past four games, including a shock FA Cup exit against the Championship strugglers Plymouth, but remain unbeaten away in the Premier League this season.
Asked if his team were in a blip, the Liverpool head coach replied: “I don’t feel like that at all. If you go away to Villa, that’s always a difficult fixture. At the start of the season you know: ‘Villa away, that’s a difficult one, City away, that’s a difficult one.’ So performance-wise, not a dip at all today, in my opinion, but you might disagree.
“What we must not do and we’ve done a bit too often now, is we don’t get what we deserve. If you look at all the chances and put them in a row, from us and from them, I think it’s clear which team should have won.
“We must not make a habit out of that because it’s happened a bit too much now. But still we are eight points clear of Arsenal, who have a game in hand.”
Núñez, who came on in place of Diogo Jota with a quarter of the game to go, spurned a golden chance after Dominik Szoboszlai squared the ball to him. Slot said: “I saw an unbelievable pass from Conor Bradley, a powerful run from Dominik Szoboszlai, who made in my opinion the perfect choice to square because he made it an open-goal chance and then Darwin, it was not the best, he’s right-footed, of course, but it’s still a big chance.
“I was hoping he would get another chance. We were all disappointed but it’s normal that a player like this is a bit more disappointed. There is one player in the dressing room who feels quite down. You know who it is.”
