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Liverpool manager Arne Slot has confirmed he’ll rotate his side for the final four games of the Premier League season.
The Reds secured the championship title with four matches to spare after a decisive 5-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield last Sunday, leading to jubilant celebrations on Merseyside.
Slot joined a prestigious group of managers by winning the Premier League title in his debut season—alongside the likes of Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini, and Antonio Conte. As he looks forward to a transformative summer at the club, he can take stock of the remarkable achievement.
Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah are extending their stay, having signed new two-year deals, but it is expected that Trent Alexander-Arnold will move to Real Madrid. Meanwhile, Darwin Nunez is also predicted to leave following a season marked by inconsistency.
Fringe players, such as Harvey Elliott, have also seen their opportunities limited this season by Slot, largely thanks to the continued good form of Liverpool’s starting 11. But the time is now, the former Feyenoord boss admitted in his latest press conference, to shake things up a little now that the pressure is off.
“It’s the end of the season, but we also have to look at this as the start of next season already,” Slot remarked. “There will be a certain rotation in the upcoming games. My lineups will be different towards the one we’ve had mostly during the last ten months. We’re not gonna change everyone but there will be a few players that come into the team.
“That’s not to say that we’re going to lose them. We have a lot of trust in the players we are going to play now. I think some of them deserved to play already earlier this season, because they trained so well and they are good enough to play for this club, but I mainly chose the same players.
“This is also a moment to see where they are, also looking towards next season, maybe a bit already, but definitely also because they deserve to play.”
The reduced game time of Elliott, who has scored big goals in the Champions League, has been a major talking point in recent weeks, with the midfielder admitting to be angry and frustrated at watching on from the sidelines.
But despite speculation linking him with a move to Newcastle United and Brighton & Hove Albion, the 22-year-old has insisted that he wants to stay and fight for his place. That determined stance could be music to the ears of Slot, who admitted that the strength of options at his disposal had meant that the England Under-21 international hadn’t played as much as he should have.
“It’s very important that players who are here with us like to stay,” Slot said. “That’s a big compliment to everyone working here. Harvey is one of the players that haven’t had as much playing time as he maybe deserves.
“He’s in competition with so many good players that mainly I have chosen other players. Also, partly because he was injured for a long time and I’ve been honest with him, the first part after he came back from his injury, he wasn’t the same as he was before his injury. The last few months, he’s back to his old level again.
“There was no need for me to start with different players, but I think if you look at the amount of minutes he had in the last couple of months and the time before you can see it goes up already. That tells you that I like him more now than I did when he came back from his injury.”