Liverpool up for the fight despite Man City masterclass, says Van Dijk

Virgil van Dijk insisted that Liverpool remains determined to recover following a crushing 3-0 loss to Manchester City, although head coach Arne Slot acknowledged that the English title holders should not concern themselves with the Premier League contest at this stage.

A run of five losses in their last six league matches has seen the Reds slip to eighth position, trailing leaders Arsenal by eight points.

Manchester City demonstrated they pose the biggest challenge to the Gunners currently, with strikes from Erling Haaland, Nico Gonzalez, and Jeremy Doku bringing Pep Guardiola's side to just four points behind Arsenal.

"The truth is we suffered a 3-0 defeat and that represents a significant setback," commented Liverpool skipper Van Dijk.

"We have no intention of surrendering at all. It is only November and we are prepared for an extended campaign and a tough battle."

Rulings failed to favour Liverpool, as Van Dijk saw a goal ruled out at 1-0 in a disputed decision involving Andy Robertson being in an offside position ahead of Manchester City keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

That said, Slot recognised that protesting the referee's call would merely hide the clear gap in quality between the teams at the Etihad Stadium.

"I am not claiming that decision alone caused our loss, since even at 1-1, had City maintained their performance level, we would have faced difficulties in the latter period too," Slot remarked.

Nevertheless, in spite of their poor streak, Liverpool sit merely two points behind Chelsea, who hold third place.

"We must secure wins before considering the title challenge," the Dutch coach continued.

"The most accurate assessment of the table comes after 38 matches, but the next best point is after 19 games once everyone has faced off.

"Our primary goal is to achieve positive outcomes; the title race should be the furthest thing from our minds. Improvement is clearly essential."

A convincing win enabled Pep Guardiola to mark his 1,000th match as a manager.

Following a barren year without silverware for the first time in eight, a revitalised City appears closer to their former dominance.

"We could not achieve that last term," Guardiola noted. "Our energy waned.

"I made every effort to spark something in the squad, to respond and turn things around.

"For various factors, we fell short, yet it served as a valuable learning experience."

Arsenal's streak of 10 straight victories and eight successive shutouts across competitions halted with a 2-2 stalemate away to Sunderland on Saturday.

Guardiola mentioned the opportunity to narrow the gap on the frontrunners was not overlooked, but emphasised his team needed to prove their credentials as contenders once more.

"They have finally conceded points," the City manager added.

"I told the lads, do not get complacent just because Arsenal failed to win yesterday. Do it to build our own conviction.

"We faced the English champions. Demonstrate that we can compete at their level with Arsenal this term, and I believe we did so today."