Liverpool manager Arne Slot has conceded the league title is all but gone and that they are aiming for the top four ahead of their trip to Arsenal.

Having been the favourite to retain the title after a summer of spending,a substantial loss of form has Liverpool in fourth, 14 points behind leaders Arsenal.

And instead of a title push, Liverpool find themselves with one eye over their shoulder with three points separating them and ninth-place Fulham.

Speaking ahead of his side’s trip to the Emirates, Slot suggested a top four battle was what his team were concentrating on.

“We know that our league position makes it very hard to compete with Arsenal for the league title,” he said.

“Our first focus now is on a top-four, top-five finish to qualify for the Champions League. And all the other things we can still play for, for the Champions League, for the FA Cup.

“And if something happens that no one would expect and probably never has happened before, then we try to make sure we are ready for that. But I don’t go to Arsenal thinking about the title race. We go to Arsenal thinking about winning a game of football against a very strong team.”

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Following their abysmal run of form, Liverpool did seem to have turned a corner with four consecutive wins in December, but back-to-back draws against Leeds and Fulham suggested they were not yet fully back to their best.

Slot suggested a perceived lack of intensity from his side was more due to how other teams have played than the instructions he has given to his players.

“In the last nine games, people would probably tell me, and I would completely agree with them, that Villa and Brighton were the nicest games to watch. And I would like these people that have their opinion to see how Villa and Brighton played, and how all the other teams we faced played us.

“It’s not like I want us to play in the way we played in some other games. But maybe that’s the next step we have to make, that we don’t rely on what the opposition does, we’re just good enough to always implement a fast style, but we’re not there.”

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