Footballers complain of there being too many games and too much travelling and they have a point. I am already seeing tired players and numerous elite athletes going down with cramp, unable to last 90 minutes… and we are only nine league games into the season.

I will not join in the complaints though, even if I have travelled to four games in eight days around the continent. After travelling to Leipzig to watch Liverpool scrape a 1-0 win, again being decent rather than brilliant, I made my way to London for the big one between Arne Slot’s men and Arsenal. Though I stopped off first at home in Scotland, then Liverpool for the Everton v Fulham game.

The game at Emirates Stadium was billed as the acid test after an initially kind set of early season fixtures. Far from being imperious again, Slot’s team found a way not to lose. This was about as far away as you can get from the old heavy metal football of early Jurgen Klopp, they did not look like a side that could produce that sort of constant energy.

Just one loss so far tells a positive story. They are a solid, organised group that sparkles now and again, which could be enough for the top four. They do need Mohamed Salah to have yet another great goalscoring season and although he got the all-important equaliser, the Egyptian genius was quiet.

You can stay competitive playing like this, but you do not win leagues. Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate are the real reason for their success, shipping the fewest goals in the league so far by a distance.

Slot and the fans know there needs to be improvement from middle to front if they are going to challenge Manchester City, but finishing in the top four seems well within their grasp.

Do you agree with Pat? Is this good enough to win a title? Tell us, external

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