Liverpool's daunting run set to shape season and decide Slot's future

Liverpool will play at least 10 games between now and the end of the season that are set to determine whether this campaign will be one to remember or forget for Arne Slot's team.

That challenging run across three different competitions - the Reds could be faced with as many as 15 matches were they to progress to the finals of the FA Cup and Champions League - will also go a long way in deciding Slot's future at Anfield.

However, contrary to some recent reports in the German press, the current mood music coming out of the club is the Liverpool head coach's job is safe, although failure to qualify for the Champions League would surely test the patience of the club's American owners The Fenway Sports Group.

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Despite several slip-ups in the last 16, though, England remain on course to secure an extra spot in Europe's premier club competition next season, allowing fifth-placed Liverpool slightly more leeway to achieve what would have been seen as the bare minimum requirement at the start of the campaign.

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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from Brighton's match against Liverpool in the Premier League

But with sixth-in-the-table Chelsea just one point behind and a whole host of other teams lurking within striking distance with just seven Premier League games left this season - 11th-placed Sunderland are only six points behind the Reds for example - there is now very little wriggle room for the champions.

In fact, Opta rate their chances of competing in next season's Champions League at just 22.82 per cent.

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Liverpool head coach Arne Slot blames injury problems, a fixture pile-up and the club's transfer policy for why they were defeated by Brighton

On that basis then, Liverpool's final seven league games will surely be the main focus for Slot as he looks to navigate the finale to the season with a squad that despite a record-breaking £446m investment in it last summer, has still been shown to be worryingly light at times this campaign.

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Slot's already-stretched resources will be further tested in the closing weeks of the season by untimely injuries to key men Alisson Becker and Mohamed Salah just prior to the break, as well as Jeremie Frimpong while on international duty, although the Dutchman could be boosted by the imminent return of British-record signing Alexander Isak after four months out.

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Sky Sports' Kaveh Solhekol explains what Mo Salah's exit means for Liverpool

Salah's recent announcement he will be leaving the club at the end of the campaign also further complicates matters, with Slot surely now obliged to pick the forward for all their remaining games, regardless of form.

That top-flight run-in includes tricky-looking home games against Fulham, Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Brentford. Meanwhile, Liverpool's three remaining away games are, barring trips to the top two, the hardest they could have picked at fierce rivals Everton and Manchester United, as well as fourth-placed Aston Villa.

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Further progress in either cup competition, or both, would nonetheless help ease the mounting pressure on Slot, who saw his side booed off after a recent home draw with struggling Tottenham Hotspur, as well as lift the gloom gathering over Anfield.

Do not forget either that however unlikely a scenario it may seem right now, victory in the Champions League final in Budapest at the end of May would also guarantee Liverpool a place in next season's competition regardless of where they finish in the Premier League.

Gerrard Houllier applauds the fans after Liverpool's league match against Manchester City at Anfield in 2003

Image: Gerrard Houllier claimed Liverpool were '10 games from greatness' back in 2002

Nearly a quarter of a century ago, former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier attempted to rouse his players for the climax to the 2001-02 season by claiming they were just "10 games from greatness".

The Reds proceeded to be dumped out of the Champions League after a last-gasp 4-3 aggregate loss to Bayer Leverkusen at the quarter-final stage, though, before their title challenge also faded to leave Houllier's side empty-handed.

Slot will desperately be hoping for a different outcome this season, but first he and his players must overcome these tricky-looking hurdles:

City slickers will show where Slot's priorities lie

FA Cup quarter-final: Man City (a) April 4, 12.45pm

A trip to the Etihad was one of the hardest last-eight draws for Liverpool and one now made slightly trickier by City's Champions League elimination allowing Pep Guardiola to play his very strongest line-up with more than a week before their league game at Chelsea.

In contrast, his opposite number will surely juggle his playing resources with PSG on Wednesday night and the visit of Fulham three days later in mind, making this possibly the most expendable of their remaining fixtures.

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Will Slot dare risk Salah, who is reportedly making good progress from the muscle twinge he sustained against Galatasaray a fortnight ago, and Alisson this Saturday lunchtime? Has this cup tie come too soon for Isak?

We will find out the answers when the Reds head coach speaks to the media at the club's AXA Training Centre on Friday morning, but the make-up of his XI to face City will ultimately tell us where the FA Cup lies in his priorities this season.

Another Paris match for Liverpool - will it be different this time?

Champions League quarter-final: PSG April 8 (a) and April 14 (h), 8pm

The tests do not get any easier for Slot and co, who once again take on French and European champions PSG in the Champions League, firstly at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday, before the return at Anfield on April 14.

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Sky Sports' Sam Blitz and Kaveh Solhekol explain why Liverpool's Champions League tie against PSG has made a lot of noise in France

Luis Enrique's side knocked Liverpool out on penalties in last season's last-16 clash en route to winning the competition for the first time, although worryingly that was a Reds team on the verge of winning the title having lost just one league game to that point, nine fewer than at the same stage this campaign.

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And with the Parisians a more complete outfit 12 months on and now with a clear week to prepare for the decisive return leg at Anfield having had their Ligue 1 title-decider with Lens in between the two legs postponed, progressing to the semi-finals of Europe's premier club competition would be quite some achievement for this particular Liverpool side.

Reds must avoid capital punishment at Anfield

Premier League: Fulham (h) April 11, 5.30pm; Crystal Palace (h) April 25, 3pm; Chelsea (h) May 9, 12.30pm; Brentford (h) TBC

It is a quirk of the fixture calendar that Liverpool's final four home games of the season are all against teams from London, with each one providing its own unique challenges.

First up is a clash with ninth-placed Fulham, live on Sky Sports, sandwiched in between the PSG double-header, although what maybe more concerning is that Slot has still to get the better of the Cottagers since taking charge of the Reds.

Liverpool Fulham

Saturday 11th April 5:00pm

Kick off 5:30pm

Sky Sports Premier League HD

Liverpool then host a Palace side who have also proved to be a bit of a bogey team for Slot, who has not got the better of opposite number Oliver Glasner in any of their last four meetings across three different competitions. In fact, the Eagles inflicted the Reds' first loss of the season thanks to a last-gasp 2-1 league win at Selhurst Park at the end of September.

Liverpool finish up by hosting Chelsea and Brentford in what could, in effect, be Champions League play-offs, with the Reds having lost the corresponding meetings 2-1 and 3-1 respectively.

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Former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp speaks to The Anfield Wrap's John Gibbons, calling on the Liverpool fans to have a smile on their faces when 'one of the all-time greats' Mohamed Salah plays his final match for the club

And Slot will be hoping his side have already secured their spot in Europe's premier club competition next season by the time the Bees arrive on Merseyside on the final day so no one is distracted by what is sure to be an emotional Anfield farewell for Salah.

More away-day blues for travel-sick champions?

Premier League: Everton (a), April 19, 2pm; Man Utd and Aston Villa (a) TBC

Liverpool's title defence has partly floundered on their struggles on the road this season, with Slot's team having lost seven times so far - and that number could very well reach 10 by the end of the campaign given who they must visit in their final three away fixtures.

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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from the Premier League clash between Wolves and Liverpool

Kicking off what looks a daunting run is a first visit to Everton's new Hill Dickinson Stadium on April 19, live on Sky Sports, for a fixture the Toffees would not normally need to get motivated for. But with David Moyes' side currently a mere three points behind their city rivals, there could very well be more than just bragging rights on the line in the first Merseyside derby in this stadium.

If that looks a tricky challenge, then the Reds' following trip to Old Trafford is not any easier, especially given United's recent revival under Michael Carrick that has seen them leapfrog Liverpool up to third in the table.

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Highlights from the Premier League clash between Bournemouth and Liverpool

Given even Jurgen Klopp often struggled to get results at the home of Liverpool's two biggest rivals - the German won on just four of his 16 visits to both grounds - it takes a huge leap of faith to believe this current Reds side can.

And when you also throw in a trip on the penultimate weekend to Villa Park, which until recently had been a fortress for Villa, then you can see why Reds fans are sweating over where they may finish up come May 24.

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