Brutal seven-game run will put Slot's Reds to the test

The best beginning to a reign made by any Liverpool manager is only a start. Arne Slot has found ways of deflecting the compliments his immediate impact at Anfield has generated.

- RICHARD JOLLY

He has referenced the reality that some of his predecessors' medal collections are sufficiently impressive that they do not need to be judged by their first 10 games or an early-season status as league leaders. He has cited the relatively kind fixture list: Liverpool have played the teams currently occupying 17th, 11th, 14th, 10th, 13th, 20th and 18th places. Their Carabao Cup win was against the club in 12th. Their Champions League victories were against the sides sitting sixth and 13th respectively in Serie A.

And now it gets harder. Liverpool's next month amounts to a barometer of their prospects, a test of whether they are title challengers, potential Champions League winners, able to retain the Carabao Cup that proved Jurgen Klopp's last trophy. It is Chelsea, RB Leipzig, Arsenal, Brighton, Brighton again, Bayer Leverkusen and Aston Villa, a seven-game stretch that could derail Liverpool's ambitions or serve as a springboard to a challenge on multiple fronts.

For Slot, it amounts to a voyage of discovery. Have his first 10 games given him a clear idea of what Liverpool can achieve or is he still trying to find out himself? "The last,” he replied. It is why Chelsea's visit tomorrow assumes such a significance. "They got a lot of criticism in recent years but if you look now they are already a big threat for the next three or four years," he said. Chelsea, he believes, are not merely contenders for third or fourth place. "Oh, I would maybe even see them higher," Slot said.