Just days after their 3-2 defeat to PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Champions League, Arne Slot is readying his side for another tough challenge as the Reds travel to face AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday.
The Cherries sit 7th in the league ahead of the clash but find themselves just four points behind third-placed Nottingham Forest, and Andoni Iraola’s men have lost just twice at home all season.
“It’s a big one,” Slot told reporters in his pre-match press conference, “and this is probably going to sound strange [but] I knew this already when we played the second half against them in our home game. We were 3-0 up at half-time and I was expecting a second half where we could just control the game, have the ball a bit and maybe score the fourth one – but they just kept on going at us for 45 minutes and that showed me the character of the team.”
“Since then they have been outstanding […] and afterwards, they have beaten so many strong teams and there is a simple reason for that: a lot of quality.”
Slot praised his managerial opponent too, naming Iraola as “a fantastic manager” with “a great game plan.” The Dutchman added that “in every department, [they are] a very good and strong team that deserve to be where they are – maybe they even deserve a bit higher than the position that they are at the moment.”
Quizzed as to whether the decision to play a rotated side in the UEFA Champions League in midweek was to rest key players ahead of a gruelling physical battle against Bournemouth, Slot confirmed that “we rested them not because of the Bournemouth game; we rested them more for the long term.”
But the 46-year-old accepted that physicality will play a key role on Saturday, telling reporters that “if you can’t compete with them in that aspect, then you need luck to win the game. And then you need a special moment or a special save, or a lot of special saves from Ali [Alisson] to win the game.”
Liverpool’s trip to the Vitality Stadium gets underway at 15:00 GMT on Saturday, with match coverage and reactions from the managers available on FromTheSpot.