Liverpool head coach Arne Slot insists he has not considered the prospect of winning the Premier League title this weekend.
If Arsenal were to lose at Ipswich on Sunday his side could clinch a record-equalling 20th top-flight championship with victory at Leicester later in the day.
But Slot is maintaining his “one game at a time” approach and claims he has not dared to dream about potential outcomes.
“The honest answer is no. I’m not sure you believe me but that is the honest answer,” he said.
“My whole life I’m living in the moment, in the day, and I’m not looking backwards a lot and I’m not looking forwards a lot because it’s the type of person that I am,” he said.
“People constantly tell you: ‘Try to enjoy it, try to enjoy the whole journey,’ but the only thing you are thinking about as a manager is: ‘At the weekend there is a game coming up as well and we need to win that’.
“So, maybe that’s one of the reasons: because I’m already so long in football that you get used to the fact of living day-by-day and trying to influence day-by-day.
“My thoughts are, as always, on Leicester and on our team: how to improve, what can we do better.
“So, during the start of the week we have worked on that a lot and now we are working towards Leicester.”
Liverpool head to Leicester buoyed by news of Virgil van Dijk signing a new two-year contract, a week after Mohamed Salah did the same.
There had been plenty of debate previously about whether owners Fenway Sports Group would move away from their long-held policy of not offering lucrative contracts to players over 30.
But Slot has no doubts over a player who turns 34 in July, with comparisons already being made with Thiago Silva who played at Chelsea until he was 39.
“I can only judge him on the quality he has now and I’m not an expert in what is the reason why Thiago could do this,” he added.
“The first thing that comes to mind is stay fit. If a player at any age is out for two or three months it’s quite hard to come back immediately to their own level.
“If he stays fit I see no reason why he would regress – and the club as well, otherwise we wouldn’t have given him a two-year contract.”
Van Dijk’s influence has been felt on and off the field this season, his second as captain.
"Great personality and a great football player." 🙌
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“You know how important he is when you see him play, that’s what we all see,” said Slot.
“And then the leader he is in and around this AXA Training Centre, that is something I haven’t worked with, a player like him in terms of leadership.
“He’s having a big influence at this club but the main influence he has, of course, is on the weekend, and that is also the thing he has to focus on mostly.
“But the good thing with him is he also contributes here at the AXA and hopefully he can do that in the upcoming two seasons as well.”
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