Arne Slot Satisfied Liverpool Can Hold Arsenal, Here's the Reason

JAKARTA - Liverpool got a disappointing result even though they failed to win when playing a goalless draw against Arsenal in the English Premier League big match. Manager Arne Slot did have a reason why he was still satisfied with an extra point at the Emirates Stadium, Friday, January 9, 2026 WIB.

Liverpool passed an easy test when visiting Arsenal's home. How not, The Reds faced an opponent who was reaching the best performance. The team is on fire and it's hard to stop Arsenal when playing at home.

More than that, Liverpool couldn't field the best squad. The slot lost Mohamed Salah who is still strengthening Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations. Meanwhile, Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike who became the club's top scorer after scoring 11 goals couldn't appear due to injury so Cody Gakpo was played as a centre forward.

He is supported by Florian Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai and Jeremie Frimpong who actually have a high instinct to score goals.

However, they failed to break Arsenal's goal throughout the 90 minutes plus injury time of the match. And this is the first time that no Liverpool shot has reached the target or led to the goal since 2010.

Even though they failed to win, Liverpool extended their record of 10 consecutive matches without ever losing. Slot also showed satisfaction with the 0-0 draw.

"With such ball possession, you certainly hope to get more opportunities. But that's this team. We were able to dominate but had difficulties. Admittedly, we are still not at the same level as other teams," Slot told france24.

"However, we showed that the funds were not the first time, we were able to compete in big matches. We always get satisfactory results in every match against big teams, except when playing against Manchester City. In that match, we should have played a 1-1 draw.

"But it's not just one person who says this about the referee and VAR. This was the only match when we lost 3-0," he said again.

Slot stated that the quality of the team is actually not much different from the others. It's just that Liverpool is far behind Mikel Arteta's team who is leading alone at the top of the standings.

The draw did not change Liverpool's position which still remained in the Champions League zone. They are in fourth place with 35 points.

However, the Vigil van Dijk et al who are the defending champions of the league are 14 points behind Arsenal. Although the competition is still long, it's just not easy for Liverpool to catch up with The Gunners.

"From the results of the home and away matches against Liverpool, we showed that we can compete with other teams. Then the question is why we can be 14 points behind? The question is, we often have trouble when facing total defenders," he said.

"But from those two matches, we have been competitive enough. We won [1-0] in the meeting at Anfield through a free kick. Only in this match we didn't get that moment [free kick] and the score was 0-0," said Slot.

The result against Arsenal makes Liverpool the third time in a row to always draw. Previously, Liverpool were held by Leeds United 0-0 and then drew 2-2 against Fulham.