Liverpool head coach Arne Slot is looking forward to a reunion with compatriot Ruud van Nistelrooy even if his memories of their tussles in the Netherlands are not particularly happy.
As manager of Feyenoord, Slot drew and lost to the former Manchester United striker, who was boss of PSV Eindhoven for just over a year, but had the last laugh as his team finished seven points clear in winning the Eredivisie title.
“I was expecting you to tell the people over here that I lost once and drew once, but you made it positive saying we won the league title, which was true,” said Slot when his title win was highlighted.
“Cody Gakpo was in his team, so I am happy he is in my team now when we face Ruud because Cody scored (in a 4-3 victory).
“Ruud is a very nice person first of all. I met him once or twice and he did really well when he was at PSV because PSV for the last one-and-a-half years they have been on top of the league table.
“But if you look at the second half of Ruud’s season, they didn’t even lose any more at all.
“After he left they started buying a few more players than they did when he was working there but he still showed he can compete for the title.
“He did well at United as well and I am looking forward to seeing him, especially if we win.”
Having lost the title to Feyenoord, Van Nistelrooy quit with one game of the season remaining citing a lack of support from the club.
However, the situation he finds himself in at Leicester is arguably a tougher one.
They are just two points above the relegation zone having taken only one point from the last three matches after victory in Van Nistelrooy’s first match in charge having taken over from Steve Cooper.
“I think the positive is that teams that are positioned in the lower half of the league table, they mostly lose games, but Ruud is there, they also won.
“Now he has had two tough results in a row but for these teams it is special for them to go to Anfield and they know if they go to Anfield they have to be at their best so they will never underestimate us.
“Maybe that is the good thing about those 15 minutes (when they conceded twice against in the 6-3 win over Tottenham) because we showed that we understand we cannot underestimate one minute in the Premier League because then we are not as good as we might think we are if we are on top of our game.”
Slot will hope to have Federico Chiesa back in his squad for the late kick-off at Anfield.
The Italy international’s start to his Liverpool career has been beset with problems, having arrived late in the window without a pre-season and struggled for fitness.
Having played the second half of the Carabao Cup win at Southampton he missed Sunday’s trip to London with illness.
“Unfortunate for him because he had some minutes against Southampton, but unfortunately he was sick so we couldn’t bring him to the game,” added Slot, who continues to be without defenders Conor Bradley (hamstring) and Ibrahima Konate (knee).
