Arne Slot has warned his Liverpool players they will need “cool heads but not cool legs” when they face Everton in the final Merseyside derby to be played at Goodison Park.
Slot was handed just his fourth defeat with Liverpool in all competitions on Sunday, with their quadruple hopes ended by a 1-0 loss at Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup fourth round.
That result made Plymouth the first lower-league opponent to eliminate Liverpool from the FA Cup while the Reds have been top of the top-flight table since Brighton in 1984.
However, they still lead Arsenal by six points at the top of the Premier League table, and they could go nine clear on Wednesday, when they visit Everton for their game in hand.
It will be the 106th and final league clash between the teams at Goodison, as Everton prepare to move to their new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock at the end of the season.
Slot knows the occasion will serve as motivation for the Toffees, calling on Liverpool to show “a cool head but not cool legs”.
“It is probably going to be a fantastic atmosphere and that is never easy to play against because every single time they cross the halfway line or get a corner, the fans will cheer for that,” he told reporters.
“Then you have to be mentally really strong as an away team to resist all that. It is not the first time for these players that they are playing in atmospheres like this.
“I hope they can focus on what they have to do, but it is not only tactical, you also have to stand up to those emotions.”
Wednesday’s game will represent just the third time in the Premier League that Liverpool have faced Everton while top of the table at the start of the day – the others were a 5-2 win and a 0-0 draw in 2019-20, with the Reds going on to win the title that season.
Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 19 Premier League matches, winning 14 and drawing five. On both previous occasions that they have visited Everton while on an unbeaten run of 19 games or more, they have lost – 0-1 in October 1978 (23-game run) and 0-1 in March 1988 (31-game run).
The Reds also lost 2-0 in this exact fixture last season, ending a 12-match unbeaten run in the Premier League against their neighbours.
Slot has warned Liverpool must show far more than they did at Plymouth if they are to earn a better result, adding: “I noticed also in the Plymouth game that the intensity of the tackles, how aggressive they were, it was a quality of their players, but it was also definitely because of the emotions in the stadium, so we have to be up for that.
“It should have an impact because if you are working at a club like this you should compete for every trophy. To lose against Plymouth is not acceptable.
“We have to show a different side of us because it wasn’t only the result, but the performance was far from what Liverpool’s standards are as well.”
