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Liverpool's manager voiced belief that the Egyptian forward and the Swedish striker will forge a effective partnership in offensive play after the Merseyside club endured a last-minute defeat versus their London rivals, resulting in them surrender the summit to the Gunners.

The attacking duo were disappointing as the champions suffered their third consecutive setback in all matches, but the Dutch coach believes strongly that his big-name forwards will improve once they develop chemistry with each other.

“As they spend more time on the pitch, the stronger their link-up will be,” the Liverpool manager remarked. “You have to work to reach a top form and then it’s extremely difficult in football because you compete against quality sides to sustain that performance. In other words is steady performance. However, it's evident that we underwent transitions in the summer. New signings arrived at separate intervals.”

“Recently, there’s scarcely any time on the training ground. Yet, we have to strive to blend the fresh faces. If the result was improved today with a tie or three points then we could have enjoyed a great start to the season considering everything that happened in the summer for the team.”

Slot, who needed to reshuffle his defensive unit after Ibrahima Konaté went off with a leg issue in the second half, supported the forward's erratic shooting.

“The positive aspect is that we positioned him many times in the area he prefers,” Slot said. “And I would like him to be in because his record proves in his career and during my tenure that in these scenarios he can score goals. He encountered many opportunities to repeat his usual feats. After all, he's mortal and you cannot expect every chance he gets is always a goal. Sometimes we think it is because of what he’s done during the prior term.”

The Anfield side welcome their historic rivals after the pause for national teams, and the manager thinks that better finishing would have stopped his side from setbacks versus Chelsea and Crystal Palace. “During those fixtures we produced more chances than the team we have faced but the reality is we found the net just one time in those contests and our opponent has scored twice,” he explained.

Chelsea led through Moisés Caicedo’s first-half strike and it appeared they would accept a point when Cody Gakpo equalised. But Enzo Maresca’s side rose to the sixth position when the young talent, popped up in the final seconds to net his maiden strike in English football.

The youngster's contribution ignited emotional reactions and resulted in the head coach being shown a second yellow card for his reactions. Chelsea’s head coach must complete a touchline ban when his team visit Nottingham Forest.

Willy Caballero was left to conduct press obligations. “He is fine,” Caballero stated regarding Maresca. “He cannot be here because of the dismissal. He instructed me to applaud the team because of the effort they have done today. We earned the victory because of the scoring opportunities we fashioned.”