Arne Slot sounds Liverpool warning while reacting to Chelsea draw | OneFootball

Liverpool manager Arne Slot warned his side against complacency, despite their position at the Premier League summit, using Chelsea's surprise 0-0 draw against Everton as a prime example of the pitfalls which exist in every fixture.

The Reds have tended to be slow starters under Slot - only one of their opening seven Premier League goals in December was scored in the first half - but they tore into Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday night. Boasting a heartily deserved 2-0 lead heading towards half-time, Liverpool conceded a sloppy goal from James Maddison in the 41st minute.

Dominik Szoboszlai restored Liverpool's two-goal lead in first-half stoppage time and Mohamed Salah bagged a quick-fire brace to make it 5-1 on the hour mark, but the Merseyside outfit let Spurs back into the game again. Luis Diaz made it 6-3 in the closing stages of a largely one-sided performance, but Slot was not entirely impressed.

"For 60 minutes, we did everything we had to do," the Dutch coach noted. "We were comfortable and good with the ball, but the main thing is we worked very, very hard. And then the same players with the same quality thought that 10-15 minutes of not working hard was good enough."

Arne Slot got the better of Ange Postecoglou on Sunday / Marc Atkins/GettyImages

Slot continued: "You know as well as I know - as I've won the league once - just how hard it is to win it. You have to keep on going every three days. You have to be on top of your game every minute of the game.

"That's why it's so hard to win it, because it's not so easy to show up every three or four days. You see last week, in a moment you can get a red card. These things can happen in a season. At Newcastle, we're 3-2 up and you expect to win it but we drop two points."

Liverpool's victory over Spurs affords them a four-point lead at the top of the Premier League table, but they could have started their trip to north London in second place had Chelsea beaten Everton on Sunday afternoon. In reality, the Blues were held to a frustrating draw, which Slot used to support his argument.

"That's the Premier League," the Liverpool boss mused. "I didn't expect Chelsea to drop points today as well, so it can happen in every game and that's what makes this league so special. That's why people want to see it and that's why we play at Christmas time."