Liverpool go to fifth-placed Aston Villa on Friday knowing victory would secure Champions League qualification, and Dominik Szoboszlai is part of a squad that arrives with pressure still hanging over the manager despite a title-winning first season. Arne Slot said he has every reason to believe he will remain in charge next season, even after boos echoed around Anfield following last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea.
Slot has been given no internal warning that his job is under threat, and Liverpool’s position has not changed behind the scenes, even as debate has grown outside the club about whether the season has matched the standard set by a Premier League title in his debut campaign. The club’s main target for the year was to stay in the top five, and they can meet that target on Friday if they beat a Villa side sitting above them in fifth.
The manager’s own injury list has added to the sense of strain. He said: “Today we are without nine players.” He added that “Florian and Mo are on the bench, but Alex [Isak] is out with a minor injury.” Slot also praised Salah’s effort to return, saying: “I have to compliment Mo on how hard he has worked to be back. It’s not always straightforward with the type of injury he had.”
The absences matter because Liverpool are going into a match that could settle the shape of their season in one night. With nine players missing and Salah only fit enough for a place on the bench, the team has less margin for error than it did when the title was clinched. That tension has sharpened after the Chelsea draw, when frustration at Anfield spilled into open disapproval at the final whistle.
Villa, meanwhile, do not offer an easy route to relief. Liverpool have won only one of their last 16 league games against them, and that lone Villa victory in the sequence was a 7-2 win in 2020. Friday’s match gives Slot a chance to quiet the noise around his team and turn the season’s most basic objective into a finished job before the final week arrives.
