Liverpool has had Manchester United vs Arsenal circled in its calendar for a while. By the time the game rolled around, however, the title race was all but settled already — although the Reds will appreciate being handed even more leeway, and it turns out they had a coach in attendance at Old Trafford to watch it happen.
It will be a relief for Arne Slot that he did not have to rely on Ruben Amorim for a favor, given that Manchester United is down in 14th with only nine wins all season. But the Red Devils vs the Gunners is always a unique fixture, and with Mikel Arteta stuttering, this did have the feel of a potential banana skin for Arsenal.
So it proved, with Declan Rice’s goal only enough to salvage a draw — and even that required some heroics from David Raya. Liverpool is now 15 points clear having played one game more, after Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah inspired a comeback win over Southampton.
Slot will be busy preparing for tomorrow’s massive Champions League encounter with PSG, after Harvey Elliott completed a smash-and-grab 1-0 win in the first leg in Paris. But perhaps the head coach found the time to stick the Arsenal match on the TV.
One Liverpool coach who certainly did watch the match is Fabian Otte, and he did so in person. He shared a picture from Old Trafford on his Instagram page.
Otte joined Liverpool in the summer as a goalkeeping coach, replacing the long-serving John Achterberg. Unlike many of his Anfield peers, he did not follow Slot to the club, instead arriving from the USMNT setup.
Since then, he has been working with the likes of Alisson, Caoimhin Kelleher and Vitezslav Jaros. As of next season, Giorgi Mamardashvili will be added to that mix.
(Image: Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
No doubt Otte was impressed with one or two of Raya’s contributions, although they were not a patch on Alisson’s heroics against PSG. And there were question marks over the Arsenal goalkeeper’s role in the free-kick scored by Bruno Fernandes, which went in despite being some way from the top corner.
The coach may well have been at the Man Utd vs Arsenal game in a personal capacity, rather than any kind of effort by Liverpool to keep tabs on a title rival. But in any case, Otte will have been delighted with the outcome, which moves his stable of goalkeepers another step closer to claiming a Premier League medal.
Alisson, Kelleher and Jaros have all featured in the league this season. While only the first two have reached the five-game threshold traditionally required for a Premier League medal, the rules now allow clubs to distribute them as they see fit, provided everyone to have hit the five-game mark receives one.
