After worst run in 72 years, Liverpool face an unimaginable Slot dilemma

Good evening and welcome to our live match coverage as Liverpool host PSV at Anfield on matchday five of the Champions League.

Arne Slot’s men slumped to a 3-0 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League last weekend, falling to a sixth league defeat in their last seven outings and back-to-back 3-0 defeats in the league. That loss leaves the defending Premier League champions down in 12^th, 11 points behind leaders Arsenal just 12 games into the season. They have now lost eight of their last 11 games in all competitions.

Speaking ahead of tonight’s game, Slot has described his side’s form as “unacceptable”. “I have said quite a lot of times, there are certain things that you can do better but this has not helped and has not been of use,” Slot said. “You can think of quite a lot of reasons why you have lost. From our perspective, at Liverpool Football Club, it is not acceptable. It is a situation you do not want to have. Now it is time to start winning matches again, but you have to do a lot to win a match. The simple things, they must do better. That is what we are not doing and that is quite easy to solve. Simple football is the most difficult thing.

“I would describe it as ridiculous, almost. Something I did not expect to be in. Not at any club I was going to work at, let alone Liverpool. That is unbelievable. If you can find an excuse, you will never find enough excuses to make you perform like this. Unexpected for the club, for me and everyone. But I am working at a club where if you need to face it, this is the best club to face it. The harder it gets at a club like this, the more we are together to achieve the things Liverpool usually achieve. I take the responsibility and feel guilty for it. We are busy working on it.”

Liverpool have three wins and a loss from their first four Champions League games. They have beaten Atletico Madrid, Eintracht Frankfurt and Real Madrid, but fell to defeat at Galatasaray. The hosts will be without Florian Wirtz, Conor Bradley, Jeremie Frimpong and Giovanni Leoni.

PSV won 1-0 at NAC Breda last weekend, giving them a six-point advantage at the summit of the Eredivisie. They have just one win from their opening four Champions League games, which was an emphatic 6-2 victory over Napoli. They have drawn twice and lost their other four matches, meaning they currently have five points at the halfway stage of the Champions League group phase.

These sides did meet at the end of last season’s Champions League group phase. After winning their first seven games, it was a dead rubber for Liverpool, which meant Slot shuffled the pack and they lost 3-2 at PSV. The last time they met at Anfield was in October 2008, with Liverpool winning 3-1.

Team news to follow shortly.