Arne Slot believes Liverpool will be on the “home” straight if they navigate two tricky away days at Aston Villa and Manchester City.
The Reds travel to Villa Park knowing victory will put them 10 points clear of Arsenal in the Premier League title race. Liverpool then visit defending champions Manchester City on Sunday in two huge games for their hopes of winning a 20th league crown.
But Slot is thankful their remaining 11 games sees them play seven of those at Anfield and that could be a huge advantage in the run-in.
He said: “So these two games we are going to play now have already been played by Arsenal – Villa away and City away. Then we can make a difference in the upcoming two games. If not, then we are on equal terms because we have played a lot of similar games and there are still 11 games to go.
“The positive thing is that, after these two games, we’ve got seven home games and four away. And we all know how much Anfield can help us. Whatever the result is from the upcoming two games, we do know that seven home and four away afterwards.”
Liverpool will face an Aston Villa side pushing to get back into Champions League contention tonight. While Manchester United loanee Marcus Rashford will also be looking to show what he can do if he gets a chance from the start or the bench.
Slot is wary of the England striker who has a point to prove. He said: “As you see sometimes when a new manager comes in, certain players start to play much better.
“You also see this sometimes when players go to different clubs. You mention Rashford now but Antony isn’t doing bad at Betis too. I’ve always said that United have a lot of quality players for a number of years now.
“Some of them show it at United now and some of them show it somewhere else. But Rashford is one of the best attackers that England has in my opinion, if he plays to his ability.”