Liverpool up for the fight despite Man City masterclass, says Van Dijk

MANCHESTER: Virgil van Dijk said Liverpool will fight back after a demoralising 3-0 defeat to Manchester City, but manager Arne Slot conceded the English champions cannot look at the Premier League title race right now.

Five defeats in six league games have dropped the Reds down to eighth, eight points behind leaders Arsenal.

City showed they are the major threat to the Gunners right now as goals from Erling Haaland, Nico Gonzalez and Jeremy Doku closed Pep Guardiola’s men to within four points of Arsenal.

“The reality is that we lost 3-0 and that is a big blow,” said Liverpool captain Van Dijk.

“We are not going to give up whatsoever. We are in November and we are ready for a long season and a big fight.”

Decisions did not go Liverpool’s way as Van Dijk had a goal at 1-0 controversially disallowed for Andy Robertson standing offside in front of City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

However, Slot admitted that complaining about that call would only mask the difference in class between the sides at the Etihad.

“I will not say because of that we lost the game, because at 1-1 if City continued like they were playing, we would have struggled in the second half as well,” said Slot.

Yet, despite their awful run, Liverpool are only two points adrift of Chelsea in third.

“We need to get results before we can think about that (the title race),” added the Dutchman.

“The best way to judge the league table is after 38 games but the next best is after 19 games when we have all played each other.

“The first focus is getting results, the last thing we should focus on is the title race. We need to improve and that’s obvious.”

A resounding victory allowed Pep Guardiola to celebrate his 1,000th game in management.

After a first trophyless season in eight years, a refreshed City look more like their old selves.

“Last season could not do that,” said Guardiola. “We lost energy.

“I tried desperately to do anything, but I was not able to make a click to the team, to react and to do it.

“For many reasons we were not able to do, but it was a good lesson.”

Arsenal’s 10-game winning run and eight consecutive clean sheets in all competitions came to an end in Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Sunderland.

Guardiola said the chance to close in on the leaders did not go unnoticed but said his players had to show they are title contenders again.

“They dropped points finally,” added the City boss.

“I said to the players ‘guys, don’t do it because yesterday Arsenal didn’t win. Let’s do it to believe ourselves’.

“We play against the champions of England. Show them that we are able to be there with them (Arsenal) this season and today I think we proved it.”