Arne Slot laments the defensive mistakes that led to Premier League leaders Liverpool’s defeat against Fulham.

Arne Slot has pointed the finger at defensive errors following Liverpool’s disappointing 3-2 defeat to Fulham, acknowledging that his side’s performance fell “not of the standards” expected at the club.

The Reds suffered their first away loss of the Premier League season at Craven Cottage, despite initially taking the lead through a well-placed strike from Alexis Mac Allister. However, the tide turned dramatically before half-time as Ryan Sessegnon, Alex Iwobi, and Rodrigo Muniz all found the back of the net, leaving Liverpool reeling.

Luis Diaz managed to pull one back in the 72nd minute, but the league leaders were unable to find an equaliser, leaving Slot to reflect on the damage done by his team’s defensive lapses.

“It’s not often we concede three goals, let alone in one game or within 15 minutes,” he told BBC Sport. “We could have prevented it. We scored a good goal, but apart from that, the second-half performance was much more what we’re like. Conceding three goals like we did is not of the standards of Liverpool. We were creating chance after chance towards the end. In the end, we lacked time to make up for the three mistakes we made in the first half.”

Despite the setback, Liverpool remains 11 points clear at the top of the Premier League, with seven fixtures still to play. One of those matches will be against second-placed Arsenal, who dropped points in a 1-1 draw with Everton on Saturday.

The Reds have held a commanding position at the summit for some time, buoyed by a remarkable 26-game unbeaten run. However, recent performances have raised eyebrows, with this defeat marking their third loss in four matches, following setbacks against Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final and Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League last month.

Slot, however, is adamant that his players are not losing focus. “There’s no reason for us to be complacent,” he stated. “We are not No. 1 at the moment because we win every match by three or four goals. It takes us so much hard work to win the games, and everyone can see that. We are fully aware of the fact we have to compete for seven more games. We showed on Wednesday that was a close call, and today was too. We were on the right side of that then, and the wrong side today.”

The manager also came to the defence of captain Virgil van Dijk, who endured a challenging afternoon in London and faced scrutiny for a potential red card challenge on Sander Berge. Liverpool has managed just one clean sheet in their last five outings, leading to criticism of Van Dijk’s form.

Slot remains unconcerned, stating, “I mainly give credit to other players as well. Van Dijk is not the first player to find it difficult to defend against Beto. And the one that played here today, you have to give credit to him also. I still see a lot of things that Virgil does really well, but if you play 50-60 games a season, there will be moments, even for him, where you could have done better.”

Meanwhile, Mohamed Salah is experiencing a rare goal drought, having gone four club games without finding the net for the first time since February 2023. Despite this, the Egyptian remains the frontrunner for the Premier League’s Golden Boot with 27 goals in 31 appearances.

Slot refrained from criticising his star striker, adding, “Maybe he should see it as a compliment that people are talking about it because his numbers were not normal when he was scoring. The good thing about Mo is he knows what kind of player he is. Mo will show up again; I don’t worry about that.”