Arne Slot names only team who have been 'better' than Liverpool this season | OneFootball

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has admitted no side this season has given his team a tougher test than Chelsea, even insisting the Blues were the better team in October's clash between the two.

Slot's side sit four points clear of the west London outfit at the top of the Premier League standings with one game in hand, with a large part of that advantage being earned in a hard-fought 2-1 triumph over Chelsea at Anfield.

Despite Chelsea's current status as Liverpool's closest competition, Blues boss Enzo Maresca has repeatedly insisted his side are simply not ready to challenge for the Premier League title. Slot stopped short of inviting Chelsea into the title race but argued their performances this season cannot be ignored for much longer.

"It was one of the games, maybe the only game, where I felt the other team was better than us during that game," Slot said of October's meeting with Chelsea. "That's not to say for the long term they are better than us but during the game they had more ball possession than us and were threatening us more than any other team until now.

"I'm not there to judge which position they will end in the league table. I have to focus on my own team but Chelsea have been impressive this season so far, that's for sure."

Maresca has repeatedly insisted that his young Chelsea side are simply not ready to compete with the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal because of their lack of big-game experience, echoing Jose Mourinho's claims from 2014 that his Chelsea side were "a little horse that needs milk and needs to learn how to jump" before they went on to win the title the following season.