What Arne Slot would've told defeated Liverpool stars in dressing room in title race fear

Gary Neville has suggested that Liverpool manager Arne Slot would have urged his squad to clinch the title in style after their defeat by at the weekend. The Reds' lead remains strong with 11 points ahead of , even after their 3-2 stumble against the Cottagers, with only seven matches remaining.

Neville, however, criticised for a perceived lack of urgency following Arsenal's draw with . Speaking on , the ex-Manchester United defender argued that Slot will have stressed the importance of finishing the season emphatically to reflect their overall superiority throughout the season.

"They will get over the line," Neville said. "There's no way anyone is going to catch them and they deserve the league title, but that will be a message from in the dressing room after the game will be 'Lads, seriously, don't mess this up to an extent you basically win by five points and everyone thinks it was close when you look back'.

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"It's not been close, so go and win it by 12, 13, 14 points, go and keep your consistency and your performance levels high, because you don't want to finish the season on a bit of a lull.

Neville added: "It just looked to me that it was a team that knew they'd won the league by winning against Everton at home on Wednesday and then Arsenal not winning [on Saturday].

"They were almost like 'We can afford to make a mistake here' and life has a habit that when you take a breath and think 'We're nearly there' it has a habit where it gives you a little punch or a little dig and I think that's what Liverpool have had.

"It's not unsurprising that Liverpool have gone down there, and it's a little bit of a celebration day in the sense they know they've won the league and they can make mistakes, but they have to make sure they don't make it scruffy for the next few weeks. It can be a fantastic end to the season and win the league early because next season other teams are going to come back at you."

Slot has rejected claims that his side took their foot off the gas at Craven Cottage, as per . "No, there's no reason for us to be complacent," he said.

"We're not No.1 in the league because we win every game by a margin of three or four goals. It takes so much effort, so much hard work combined with quality for us to win games.

"We are fully aware of the fact we need to compete for seven more games. On Wednesday when we played Everton, it was a close call. Today was a close call."

Despite Slot's warning, Neville is of the opinion that if the Reds secure the Premier League title this season, then they can build on it in spectacular style and even win it again come next year.

"Liverpool, if they can keep Salah and Van Dijk, two out of three, with Trent looking like he's going to , and add two or three really good players to their first eleven, they could go and win it again," he said.

Liverpool will welcome United to Anfield on Sunday in their next Premier League fixture. They will look to get back to winning ways and shore up their lead over Mikel Arteta's side.

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