´You know they´ve got the right man´ – James backs Slot to lead Liverpool title challenge

It is already clear Liverpool have appointed the right manager in Arne Slot and the Reds are on track to compete for the Premier League title this season.

That is the view of former Liverpool goalkeeper David James, who has been impressed by the early returns of former Feyenoord boss Slot since he replaced Jurgen Klopp in the Anfield hotseat.

Liverpool have won four of their first five Premier league matches and beaten AC Milan in the Champions League so far under Slot.

Champions Manchester City and Arsenal are widely seen as the leading title contenders, but James has been suitably encouraged by the Reds’ start to believe they will also be in the mix if they can keep key players like Mohamed Salah fit.

Speaking to Stats Perform, James said: “I know the conversations are about the City and Arsenal rivalry and challenging for titles.

“I’m not saying this through any previous connection [to the club], but I just think Liverpool are in the conversation [for the title], as they were last year.

“Last season, because of the amount of injuries they had, a lot of it was just pure grit and determination rather than a formulaic way of getting your best players to win games of football.

“If Arne keeps his players fit, which is always the case for teams, then you see them [Man City and Arsenal] being challenged [by Liverpool] at the end of the season.

“He has been a great appointment, everything I hear about him is positive, and when you see the performances on the field being as positive as they are, then you know they’ve got the right man.

“You can already see a positive difference [to the end of last season] with what is effectively the same squad.”

100 – With today’s assist for Luis Díaz, Trent Alexander-Arnold has now been directly involved in 100 goals as a Liverpool player (19 goals, 81 assists). Visionary. pic.twitter.com/OEfuU3PbU7

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 21, 2024

After a 3-0 win over Bournemouth last time out, the Opta supercomputer is not discounting the possibility of a Liverpool title bid, as it appears almost certain they will be contending towards the top of the standings.

While their title chance is just 5.7% at this stage (Man City are at 80.2% and Arsenal are at 13.8%), the predictive model thinks there is a 34.3% chance of Liverpool finishing in the top two and an 80.6% chance of the Reds ending up in the top three once again.

In a start to the campaign that has also included an impressive 3-0 away win over rivals Manchester United, a shock 1-0 home loss to Nottingham Forest on Matchday 4 has been the only negative for Liverpool so far.

James added: “The learning curve for Arne [Slot] and his team will be what they do after international breaks. You can see how teams like City often turn a negative experience into a positive.

“If you look at it, he came in pre-season, they were exposed to Arne’s training regime from day one, all the way through to the first three games [before the] international break, and things were getting better.

“And I think after the international break, there was a disconnect: they didn’t look good, didn’t play well, and ended up defeated.

“Therefore, Arne’s learning curve will be, what do I do now next time my team, most of my players, go off on international breaks, what do I have to rejig to make sure that we continue this kind of performance?”

Liverpool host West Ham in the EFL Cup third round on Wednesday, before travelling to face bottom-of-the-table Wolves in the Premier League on Saturday.

The Reds are on an impressive defensive run of form, having conceded just one goal in their last six top-flight games dating back to last season, with five clean sheets.

But attackers Salah and Luis Diaz have also been key to Slot’s flying start.

Diaz has been involved in six goals in his last four Premier League appearances, scoring five and assisting one. The Colombia attacker has scored a double in two of his last three Liverpool matches, having netted multiple goals in just one of his first 69 top-flight games.

James said: “The improvement in Luis Diaz, firstly through the goalscoring, is helped by the way that Liverpool play [under Slot], they play a lot more through the middle.

“It means Luis has more space. The goals he scored on the weekend, yes came from good passes, but he’s got a little bit more space and the skill to be able to take advantage of that.”

Liverpool have won 14 of their last 15 league matches against Wolves and, as things stand, look well-placed to extend that run as the Opta prediction model gives them a healthy 65.7% win probability at Molineux.