Q&AArne Slot press conference: Man City v Liverpool, fitness, Nunez, Gravenberch and more

The day after the Reds' 2-2 draw at Aston Villa, Slot spoke to reporters at the AXA Training Centre to preview this Sunday's encounter against Pep Guardiola's side.

See the key takeaways from the head coach's briefing…

• LFC injury update: Cody Gakpo, Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez

On playing after Arsenal this weekend...

I think the biggest question to be asked is from Man City because we face a strong team again, like we faced [at] Villa. Yeah, Arsenal plays before us but we know that doesn't make the game easier or more difficult than we have against City. We know we have 12 games to play and Arsenal has 13 games to play. If we constantly look at Arsenal or what other teams are doing, that would not help us. We already know how difficult it is to go to the Etihad, so we don't need Arsenal to get involved in that even more.

On what he expects from Man City...

What I always expect from City since Pep is there: a great football team that can play so well. They've had maybe one or two months in the seven or eight years he's there now that weren't the best, maybe partly because of injuries as well. Injuries come back, they've signed three or four players, I can see them coming back already if you look at the result against Newcastle. So what you expect is what everybody expects if you go to the Etihad if you play against City. You have to suffer as well and work really hard to keep them away from your goal because they are so, so good in ball possession. But they face a strong team as well that hasn't lost for 22 games.

On Darwin Nunez...

I can accept every miss, especially from a player that has scored two very important goals against Brentford, that's scored for us in the home game against Villa. I would prefer him to score but the word 'chance' says it all – it's a chance, so it's not 100 per cent sure that the ball goes in. Players miss chances, that I can accept. But what was a bit harder for me to accept [was] his behaviour after that chance, and with behaviour I mean I think it got too much in his head where he wasn't the usual Darwin that works his [backside] off and makes sure he helps the team.

I think he was too disappointed after missing that chance and maybe – we will never know, we will never find out – that's why he was just a fraction short [in] the moment afterwards. I always truly believe that it's always the best to have Wata [Wataru Endo]'s mindset and what I mean with that is that for the whole season he just keeps on going, keeps on going, keeps on going and whenever we need him, he's ready. That is very difficult, there are not many players that can do this. It's not about the chance for me, it's more about the 20 minutes afterwards where I want to talk to him about than about him missing a chance.

On what he's learning about his players at this stage of the season...

You always learn in every game but I see mostly the same things. So, these players are able to play every three days on the best of their capabilities in terms of physique. If you saw yesterday again, I mostly take Dom Szoboszlai as an example – what a work-rate for his third game in a row. Until the last, last second, he kept on running up and down, up and down, up and down. That's the only thing I can ask for and what the fans can ask for. And that we are then unlucky not to score our chances, that's football unfortunately.

But we cannot accept – not the fans, nor me – that they don't give maximum effort. But that's what they constantly do and I assume that they will do again. But you never know the outcome because we face – with Villa, with Everton away – difficult opponents. The fixture list for us now is a few difficult ones in a row – that's what you have to accept. The good thing is that we are not behind someone, we are still number one and that's the good thing if you go into a run of games like this.

On Ryan Gravenberch's form...

I think that is partly what it is [that he can't be nine out of 10 every game]. There are only a few players in the world that can be a nine or a 10 every single three days. If you look at his age, he might, might, might eventually belong to those group of players – those two or three or four that can do this. But he's not there yet, which is completely normal and it depends also on the playing style of the opponent, which we just said. If you play Everton or Wolves, that is a completely different game than when you play Villa. I liked him yesterday much more than I liked him against Everton, for example. It's not always as simple as the form of a player or how many games did he play, but nine or 10 times that's the most easy reason to give instead [of] diving into looking at playing style and certain other things.

On Diogo Jota's impact since returning from injury and whether he'll be disappointed at not scoring more than once...

Probably he will, although apart from him hitting the target he gave a great assist as well [against Villa], so it tells you maybe more how disappointed I am that we missed him for four to five months. It tells you that something changed in our playing style. When he was there with us before, I think he was involved in a lot of goals – scoring as well – so it tells you how much of a miss it has been not to have him.

But again, I would have loved to have played him every single time for maybe 90 minutes, but if a player is out for four or five months and he hasn't been out out, he has been coming back, coming in, coming back and every time we played him a bit too much he got injured again, I hope people understand why we are so cautious now. Because [with] 12 games to go, you tell me – and I see the same – how much of a threat he is, so we have to keep him available for 12 more games and Champions League and the League Cup final. That is not an easy balance to find.

I would have loved to have kept him in the team because he played really well, for Trent [Alexander-Arnold] the same. Who takes out two players that are playing so well? That's only because it is a big injury risk to keep them in the team. When I drove in, I was listening to talkSPORT and Mark Lawrenson, he couldn't simply understand why I took Trent off, which I understand from his perspective because he played so well and he just scored a goal, but now maybe he does.

On managing Alexander-Arnold's minutes...

We spoke about this already a week ago, that in these five games he already knows how many minutes he would make. That was in a situation where Conor [Bradley] was available as well. Now we maybe have to adjust our plan. I said to him, 'You know why I take you off, don't you?' He said, 'Yeah, we spoke about it.' But, of course, a player has adrenaline and had just scored. It was a better moment than against Wolves when he lost the ball just before I took him off. He is improving.