Arne Slot earned a Liverpool record of nine wins from his first 10 games in charge after the club stayed on the top of the English Premier League on Saturday.
Diogo Jota’s ninth-minute goal at Selhurst Park held up to beat Crystal Palace 1-0 and ensure Slot would be looking down on rival managers Pep Guardiola of Manchester City and Mikel Arteta of Arsenal heading into the international break.
Four-time defending champion City is second after beating Fulham 3-2 and third-placed Arsenal won against Southampton 3-1. Both trail Liverpool by a point.
Slot is making light work of filling the void left by Anfield great Jurgen Klopp, with no other manager in the club’s history winning so many of his opening games in all competitions.
“It definitely is (very satisfying). And it’s actually also quite special if you know how many great managers Liverpool had,” Slot said. “But I also said last week I think that I hope they don’t only remember me in one, two, three, four, five years only for this. We are hoping to do more special things than this.”
Liverpool’s only defeat under the Dutchman was a shock 1-0 home loss against Nottingham Forest. Otherwise, it has been a perfect start for a man who had the ominous task of replacing Klopp, who won a full set of major honors including the Premier League and Champions League.
Slot looks likely to be the main challenger to City and Arsenal, who have been first and second respectively in the last two seasons.
Both of those teams survived scares to come from behind to win at home.
Alisson injury
It wasn’t all good news for Liverpool after goalkeeper Alisson sustained a suspected hamstring injury and was substituted in the second half at Palace.
The Brazil international, who has only recently returned from a muscle injury, was holding the back of his right leg after limping off Selhurst Park and is likely to miss Brazil’s World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Peru.
Argentina midfielder Alexis Mac Allister also went off with a groin issue that makes him a doubt for his country’s qualifiers against Venezuela and Bolivia.