Ian Wright sends Liverpool title warning with Manchester City and Arsenal pre-season claim

Arsenal legend Ian Wright has claimed that pre-season could be crucial for Liverpool if they are to be title challengers once again.

Arne Slot has overseen a successful first few months in charge of the club after Jurgen Klopp’s departure. Their pre-season tour of America saw victories over Real Betis, Arsenal and Manchester United with a whole host of young academy stars getting plenty of minutes, teasing a bright future.

Star figures have only just returned to the AXA Training Centre last week after extended holidays following the European Championships and Copa America competitions and they are well set for the start of the new season. While fans are hoping to see some transfer movement in the final few weeks of the window, it looks like Slot has integrated himself well in his early days at the club.

Last season saw them fall short of multiple trophies despite being in great positions. In terms of the league, they were top at Christmas but fell away in the final part of the season and they will be hoping to bridge the gap to City and Arsenal once again and a good start will be absolutely key in keeping the pressure on their two rivals.

Speaking on the latest episode of Stick to Football from the Overlap (with Sky Bet), Wright made the claim that the levels and focus are so high from the likes of Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta during the summer because they know they can’t slip up in the league early on if they want to win the title - and Slot will have had to employ a similar methodology to begin the season strongly.

“When you look at it now, when you look at the levels of what you have to do now, the amount of points you need to actually win it, looking how Pep [Guardiola] probably prepare, how [Jurgen] Klopp prepared, how Mikel [Arteta] in pre-season is like that - because of the levels that they have to get to. Straight off the back with pre-season, you have to be getting that right because you have to start the season winning and you have to be winning.”

Looking at their early start to the season, they face a tricky away test on the opening weekend to face Ipswich away, where the home fans will create a tough atmosphere for Slot’s first official game. Following that, they face Brentford (H) Manchester United (A) Nottingham Forest (H) Bournemouth (H) and Wolves (A) across August and September. There’s a strong case that Slot could total a high amount of points if his side hit the ground running and a solid pre-season will certainly be the reason for it.