Arne Slot’s Midas touch sends Liverpool five points clear at the top

Top of the Champions League and now five points clear at the top of the Premier League, Arne Slot is the low-key appointment making Liverpool high-flyers. A 15th win in 17 games cemented a spectacular start for the Dutchman. Now Manchester City find themselves in second but as close in points to eighth-place Aston Villa as they are to Liverpool.

And Villa have picked the wrong moment to emulate City. Normally it is an enviable achievement to be in the same form as Pep Guardiola’s side. Not now. Not when it means Villa, too, have suffered four consecutive defeats. Liverpool took one of the supposed strengths of Unai Emery’s side, set-pieces, and turned it into a weakness.

For the second successive game, Slot chose his striker wisely. It was Luis Diaz against Bayer Leverkusen, an unconventional choice that reaped a dividend when the Colombian delivered the first hat-trick of his career. He duly reverted to the left wing as Darwin Nunez came back to deliver the opener against Villa, with Mohamed Salah doubling the lead. “He is on fire,” said Slot. So is he. Right now, the summer arrival is in the managerial sweet spot where whatever he tries seems to work. Liverpool, with 12 victories in 13, can testify as much.

The only blight on their night was the loss of Trent Alexander-Arnold, who limped off with a suspected hamstring injury. “It is always serious if a player goes out in the first half,” said Slot. “That is not a good sign.” Not when Liverpool’s next month includes meetings with Real Madrid and City. But the last seven matches presented an examination of their credentials. Only Arsenal even held them. RB Leipzig, Leverkusen, Chelsea and Villa were beaten, along with Brighton twice.

And another of Albion’s results showed that is not easy. Buoyed by City’s loss at Brighton, Anfield fizzed with energy. It was the sort of fast, frenzied game that can come when it is under the lights. It was, in short, the sort of atmosphere to suit Nunez.

The Uruguayan has a capacity to dictate the style of any match. Slot’s preference for control is well known, but this was more reminiscent of Jurgen Klopp’s final year, in part because of Nunez, the all-action adventurer. Liverpool scored two Klopp-style goals: viscerally exciting, breathtakingly quick.  “It is not the first time we have scored like that,” said Slot. “The players are so fast on the counter attack.”

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Twice, they went from box to box at blistering pace. Villa, under Austin McPhee’s influence, have become set-piece specialists but conceded from their own corner. Liverpool counter-attacked, Virgil van Dijk sending Salah sprinting clear. Leon Bailey dragged him down, referee David Coote waved play on – perhaps sparing the Villa winger a red card, had VAR been invoked – and Nunez latched on to it, rounding Emi Martinez to finish from an acute angle. The Uruguayan celebrated with the ball up his jumper. Given Curtis Jones’ recent form, fatherhood clearly agrees with Liverpool players.

Villa did not learn. After another corner, Salah released Nunez behind the visiting defence to sky a shot. The second goal came instead from a Villa throw in the final third. As Liverpool broke, Diego Carlos headed the ball to Salah, who headed it back past him, ran 50 yards and dinked a shot past Martinez. Slot deflected the credit. “Those counter breaks were nothing to do with what we did on the training ground but pure quality,” he said.

And Liverpool had plenty of it. Andy Robertson looked revived by a midweek rest, hurtling up and down the left flank, crossing when Nunez headed wastefully wide. Jones was excellent, too, in what should prove his final game as an uncapped player. Nunez was ubiquitous, ending with five shots. Slot has done much else but making him clinical could prove a task even beyond the Dutchman.

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Yet Liverpool still had to be grateful to their goalkeeper. A pair of terrific Caoimhin Kelleher saves followed two Lucas Digne corners in a matter of seconds, first Amadou Onana and then Carlos seeing headers repelled by the Irishman.

Villa had a threat. Emery felt they deserved two spot-kicks, when Ollie Watkins was nudged and Pau Torres tugged – “it is a clear penalty,” he said – while some 25 seconds into the second half, Morgan Rogers escaped only to skew a shot wide. With Liverpool at times feeling susceptible to the break, there were points when they required a vital intervention – one from Ryan Gravenberch, another from Konate – to prevent a half-chance from turning into something more substantial.

But there were moments when Liverpool felt the fresher. Certainly there was a ferocity to some of their running, and not merely when Nunez was in full gallop. It was telling when, 78 minutes in, Diaz charged back into his own penalty area to dispossess a dozing Jaden Philogene. “Let’s not forget the defensive run from Diaz,” said Slot.

He can judge his attackers on how fast they run backwards. Yet it is a team going forward at some speed. “Liverpool, top of the league,” rang around Anfield in injury time. Now it is a question of how long they can stay there and if they finish there.