Every word Arne Slot said on Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa injuries, new Champions League format

Liverpool will be aiming to make it three out of three .

It’s been a phenomenal start to life at Anfield for , with his side sitting top of the after , and they’ve left themselves in a good position to qualify for the knockout stages of the newly revamped following wins over AC Milan and Bologna.

Another victory in Germany tomorrow will put them another step closer, and with the games only getting harder before the end of the year, the Liverpool boss has emphasized the importance of picking up another positive result in Europe. He will have to contend with some injury problems though.

Here is everything Slot said during his press conference ahead of tomorrow’s game.

On injuries

"Conor Bradley didn’t make the trip, Harvey Elliott didn’t make it, Federico Chiesa didn’t make it, and Alisson didn’t make it, so it means that we have a few issues at the moment.

"He [Diogo Jota] got a knock [on Sunday], like we all saw, when he was trying to go to goal, brought down. That was not the biggest problem but I think the other player fell onto him and that hurt him that much that he couldn’t continue to play and he couldn’t come with us for now.

"It’s difficult to judge at this moment of time to see how long that’s going to take. It’s bruised, so we have to see how long it is going to take.

“That is always so difficult with injuries, especially if it just happened. It’s so difficult to see where they are after a few days, and I think after a few [more] days you can better say where they are.

“With Federico it’s a bit more simple; although it’s more difficult, but it’s a bit more simple to explain. He missed a complete pre-season, I said this many times, and going to a league where the intensity might even be higher than the Italian league. We just faced the two Italian teams so I can say this now.

“So that makes it difficult for him to make the step towards the intensity levels the rest of the team is at at the moment. That has not so much to do with the Italian league or the Premier League, that has more to do with him missing a complete pre-season and that is so difficult for every player – when the games are constantly there – to build them up towards the levels we are at.

“So, difficult to say, but it’s a big disappointment for him that he is going in and out of the training sessions all the time. I feel sorry for him.

“But he signed a long-term contract so we will see what he brings for us. But at the moment, unfortunately for him he has been one or two times in the team selection and not more than that.”

On facing RB Leipzig

"I never think it is a good idea to lose a game. No matter where you are in the season – it is always better to get the best possible result and that’s also what we are trying to bring in tomorrow. We look at it game by game and we try to bring out the best possible team for tomorrow, for the competition we face in Leipzig, who are doing really well in the Bundesliga.

"They had the difficulty of playing two very difficult teams in the Champions League, that’s the difficult thing of this format – that after two games you can have a league table that doesn’t tell the whole story because you can face teams from group four or you can face the difficult ones in the beginning, and that’s what they had.

"[They are] a very good team and, yes, the fixture list is tough, but what would you expect if you play Champions League and Premier League? The fixture list is then tough and that’s what we like, that’s what we want. We have to deal with it and we like to deal with it."

On the new Champions League format

"I don’t think you can have a fair opinion yet because we’re only two games into the Champions League now. If you would say to me, ‘Tell me what you think about it’, because I want to have an answer, I tell you, ‘OK, I like it...’ but that is only to do with us having six points out of two games! It has nothing to do with the format.

"We have to wait and see what the end result of this format is, but you can only judge that after the group stage is done and then see if me, or you or the fans like this new format."

On where Liverpool needs to improve

"You can’t ask for much more when it comes to results, but when it comes to what we want then there is always room for improvement. I don’t think we outplayed Chelsea, we certainly didn’t – I think they were more dominant than us with the ball, so in an ideal world I would have seen us dominating the complete game, like we did so many other games.

"We are not there yet, but the good thing about this team and about our result was that if you face a team like Chelsea or Man Utd – because we had difficult moments in the United game as well – was that you see a team that is fighting for every centimetre, every metre, fighting for every moment that can be decisive in the game and that’s what we showed.

"I am hoping in the future, hopefully in the near future, we play a difficult game like the Milan game or the United game, that we are more dominant than we were against Chelsea. That probably that says a lot about Chelsea as well.

"I said it before the game, I said it after the game and I can say it one more time – a lot of people in England at the start of the season made a bit of fun about them investing so much money and about all the players not in the squad, but in my opinion in the last one or two years they’ve done really well bringing so many talented players in and now having such a strong squad with such a good manager that they will be up there in the upcoming years. That’s my opinion, so let’s see if I’m right."