Liverpool can win Champions League - and Mohamed Salah absence offers Arne Slot opportunity

Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version from Echo or go back to LFC Live.

Liverpool Echo IconSportFootballLiverpool FCIn his latest column, John Aldridge looks at Liverpool no longer being realistic Premier League title contenders and what could happen next for Arne SlotLiverpool can forget about winning the Premier League now. That just isn’t going to happen with the Reds having lost too many games already.Even before the Aston Villa match, I thought that unless Arsenal lost their nerve once again, it would be too much for Arne Slot’s side to make up.It’s definitely the case now.

Arsenal are only going to lose maybe another three league games all season, so for us to overturn that we’ll have to go on a long winning run and be unbeaten for the rest of the season.READ MORE: Liverpool contact PGMOL over disallowed Virgil van Dijk goal as significant concerns raisedNo chance. The table is so close between third and 13th that there’s still plenty of time for Liverpool to get themselves sorted and move back up the standings.But maybe winning the Champions League is now a more realistic aim, although obviously that is not going to be easy.We’ve shown in the past that it isn’t beyond us, and we are capable of beating anyone in the competition.

We’ve already won against Arsenal and Real Madrid this season, and they are supposedly two of the very best teams in Europe.However, we will have to start defending far more consistently because if you have an off-day in the knockout stages, then that’s more or less it.The FA Cup could now also become a more important competition given it represents a chance to win a trophy.Slot picked some very understrength teams last season and was caught out at Plymouth Argyle. Maybe Wirtz could go on the right and Isak down the middle and Cody Gakpo on the left, but Salah is going to need replacing.John AldridgeThe Liverpool FC, Tranmere and Republic of Ireland great, Aldo's lively and opinionated weekly column on LFC is a must read for all Reds fans.