Liverpool fear factor gone, admits Slot

Liverpool boss Arne Slot conceded his side have lost their fear factor during a miserable run as Sunderland emerged with a 1-1 draw at Anfield on Wednesday.

The Premier League champions have now failed to win in three consecutive home games and needed a Nordi Mukiele own goal to rescue a point against the Black Cats.

Sunderland were on course for their first win at Anfield since 1983 when Chemsdine Talbi’s deflected strike opened the scoring.

Even after Mukiele deflected Florian Wirtz’s effort into his own net for the equaliser, Wilson Isidor wasted a huge chance to snatch all three points for the visitors when his shot was cleared off the line by Federico Chiesa in stoppage time.

Since winning their opening five league games of the season, Liverpool have won just two of their last nine.

“Teams that play us now think they can get a result,” said Slot. “Not only think because that has been shown this season.

“Even the games we have won, we have fuelled the confidence for other teams that something is possible because the wins we had weren’t easy ones as well.”

Any hope that a corner had been turned in Sunday’s 2-0 victory at West Ham was quickly dispelled for Slot.

Mohamed Salah was left on the bench for the second consecutive game, but Wirtz and Alexander Isak again failed to deliver on their price tags of over £100 million.

Salah was introduced at the start of the second period, but also struggled to make an impact against Sunderland’s well-organised defence.

“I knew before the game Sunderland is a hard team to score against, hard team to create chances against,” added Slot.

“A game where we didn’t concede a lot or create a lot and were really unlucky with the goal we conceded. It was a deflection and could have gone anywhere but in the period we are in, it went in.”