Liverpool is currently six points clear of Arsenal in the Premier League title race, and by the time the pair play on the same weekend again, they will have played the same number of games. The Merseyside derby is the Reds' match in hand.
A few days after that, though, it will be the Gunners who are playing catch-up. Because of the Carabao Cup final, Liverpool's trip to Aston Villa has been moved forward to February 19. Arsenal will therefore have a period of around a month where Slot's men have played a game more.
While there could be more twists and turns to come in the Premier League title race, Liverpool legend Graeme Souness believes there is a simple difference between the two that will decide the final placings.
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"Mikel Arteta has built a really good team who are still a couple of top strikers away from challenging Liverpool to be the very best," Souness wrote in his Daily Mail column. "Those strikers are the hardest thing to find. The most important ingredient in building a winning team — and very much Arsenal’s missing ingredient.
"Put Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak in that Arsenal team — because he’s the player they want to buy this summer — and you are looking at a side who would be the finished article and ready to get their hands on either of the two big trophies. The club’s Carabao Cup semi-final this week proved my point. Yes, Arsenal were beaten by Newcastle United, but for me they were the better team.
"Stats never go near to telling the full story of course, but Arsenal had 68 per cent possession in that game, 69.5 per cent possession in the first leg and yet still went out 4-0 on aggregate because they didn’t have anyone to put the ball in the net across those 180 minutes.
"Arsenal should have owned those games. One day, they go and score five against Manchester City. Three days later they dominate Newcastle and come unstuck. I assure you that they will have come away from St James’ Park thinking, ‘how have we not gone through over two legs?’ They can’t afford that inconsistency.
"It is the fundamental difference between them and Liverpool. My old club have better goalscorers, which means they don’t have to play well to win games and are less reliant on set-pieces. But without those strikers, Arsenal have to play well to win games."
Arsenal has tried to rectify its lack of attacking options in recent times but has got nowhere. And now Gabriel Martinelli is set for a month or more on the sidelines.
"They spent £65m ($81m) in June 2023 to take Kai Havertz from Chelsea, believing Mikel could make him a better player," Souness continued. "Well, I’m afraid that’s not happened. Havertz has not got any better. He is simply not the answer for them.
"It doesn’t surprise me that Mikel has come out this week and said he is disappointed with his club’s business in the transfer window. The fact that Arsenal were trying to buy Ollie Watkins from Aston Villa in the last knockings of the winter transfer window tells you how badly they wanted a striker.
"If Arsenal had met the asking price of £60m ($74m)-plus for that 29-year-old early in the window — and before Jhon Duran was sold to Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia — they might have got him. Had that proved the difference between them winning the title or being the nearly-men again, they would have felt the price was worth it.
"For them to make a last-minute bid like that tells you that Mikel was desperate. Really desperate. When they do get the right striker or strikers in, that club will be a force for anyone and a club to fear. Until then, where the title is concerned, I’m afraid they’re looking like a near miss."
Liverpool.com says: While Arsenal cannot be completely discounted in the title race, its lack of forward options is a real problem, particularly when Slot has six to call upon. That was obvious last summer, though, and the Gunners opted to spend money elsewhere in the market so they only have themselves to blame.
