Liverpool stand on the verge of becoming Premier League champions after what has been a terrific campaign.
The Reds have blown away all challengers and now need just one win from their final five games to confirm their status as champions.
And yet, perhaps the most impressive thing about Liverpool this season is that they have felt to be in second gear for much of the time.
Although they have become a relentless winning machine under Arne Slot, there is also so much that can be improved upon going forward.
Some of that will be rectified in the summer, with Liverpool planning a busy transfer window. However, other things will have to be worked out on the training pitch.
Slot is clearly aware of this and after seeing his team beat Leicester City 1-0 on Sunday, the Dutchman admitted that he and the Liverpool coaching staff are already working hard on something in particular.
Liverpool working to improve set-pieces
One of the criticisms of Liverpool this season is that they simply have not scored enough goals from set-pieces.
In Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate, the Reds boast two of the most dominant aerial players in the whole of the Premier League. And yet they do not utilise them anywhere near enough.
This has started to improve of late, though, with Trent Alexander-Arnold’s winner on Sunday marking the second time in two games Liverpool have scored from a corner.
As a result, Slot was asked in his post-match press conference to explain what exactly the Reds’ strategy is to get more out of set-pieces.
“To be fair, the idea and the plan was to have inswingers already in the first half, but there is a bit of freedom also for players to take an outswinger if they think that’s better or that they prefer that,” answered the Liverpool head coach.
“The work that we put in is that we’ve trained a lot, we’ve had a lot of meetings about it, we try every single time to improve the details and I think it’s normal for a coaching staff that’s only for nine or 10 months with that team that it doesn’t come from the first week.”
Liverpool will get better over time
One of the teams widely held up as the example to follow when it comes to scoring from dead balls is Arsenal.
As per Who Scored, the Gunners have found the net 14 times from set-pieces in the Premier League this season. Only two teams have more. For comparison, Liverpool have six goals by the same metrics and sit 16th in this particular table.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  LiverpoolLiverpool | 33 | 24 | 7 | 2 | 75 | 31 | 44 | 79 |
| 2 |  ArsenalArsenal | 33 | 18 | 12 | 3 | 61 | 27 | 34 | 66 |
| 3 |  NewcastleNewcastle | 33 | 18 | 5 | 10 | 62 | 44 | 18 | 59 |
| 4 |  Man CityManchester City | 33 | 17 | 7 | 9 | 64 | 42 | 22 | 58 |
But according to Slot, it is no surprise to see Arsenal doing so well here given the length of time Mikel Arteta and his staff have been working together.
“I always say that if I am analysing an opponent, if they have their set-pieces perfect I know the manager is already there for a long time because normally you start with bringing the ball out from the back and how to defend and all these kind of things, and the end of that process is set-pieces,” he said.
“And I think Arsenal are a great example of that, where Mikel has worked so long and they are so good in all different phases of the game and now they have become world-class at set-pieces.”
To quote Arteta himself, Liverpool are only in phase one under Slot. Over time, they will get better in this area.
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