WE'RE IN FOR AN ERLI FINISH

Slot fears his champions' defence is done & dusted as Haaland sticks boot in

- 

ARNE SLOT fears Liverpool have already blown their title defence after just 11 games of the Premier League campaign.

The English champions were left humiliated following a crushing defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad.

City outclassed their rivals from start to finish to make it the perfect day for Pep Guardiola on the occasion of his 1000th game as a manager.

Goals from Erling Haaland, Nico Gonzalez and Jeremy Doku helped the home side climb to second place = four points adrift of Arsenal.

But Liverpool’ fifth loss in their last six outings leaves them toiling in eighth in the table - eight points behind the pace-setting Gunners.

And gaffer Slot reckons his men have already lost too often to be considered serious contenders to retain their crown.

The dejected Dutchman said: ‘It feels too many.

The last thing I should speak about is the title race, we should focus on getting results after results after results. We are eighth now and one team is quite far ahead, while City are four points behind Arsenal.

“The last thing we should focus on is the title race. We could do it last season but not the seasons before. We need to improve, that is obvious.”

So Guardiola clocked up a milestone while leaving Slot with a millstone following this crushing defeat.