Slot salutes Elliott´s quality in pre-season win over Arsenal

Arne Slot has praised Harvey Elliott’s quality after he provided a spark to help Liverpool get a 2-1 pre-season friendly win over Arsenal in Philadelphia.

The 21-year-old provided assists for both of their goals, setting up Mohamed Salah and Fabio Carvalho, and could have had a third, but Diogo Jota struck the post.

Elliott has started both pre-season games under Slot so far, being deployed in the number 10 role against the Gunners, and looks to have settled in nicely under the new manager.

He had three shots and created four chances for Liverpool, double that of anyone else on the field, and Slot was quick to highlight the integral role he played in the victory.

“They were two great assists but what I believe is that the team created this for him as well,” Slot said.

“Playing out from the back, getting him in the right positions. Then it was up to Harvey to bring the most out of those situations, and he did that today with two assists.

“If I am a bit hard on him, I think there were maybe two other situations where he could have done better, but he showed his quality.”

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Slot made wholesale changes in the second half, with his young side holding out to protect their narrow lead after Kai Havertz had pulled a goal back just before the break.

“I would have preferred to have kept the same style as the first half, but we had to change a lot of players who have played a lot of minutes for us,” Slot added.

“A lot of youngsters did really well defensively, but we couldn’t keep pressing them as high as we did in the first half. Arsenal dominated possession in the second half, but we got bodies behind the ball.

“You can see the American fans love us playing here, and we love playing here as well, especially if the results keep going like this for us. We are heading in the right direction.”