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Arne Slot has taken a subtle swipe at Arsenal - and other Premier League rivals - ahead of Liverpool's clash with Manchester City . The Reds are set to face off against Pep Guardiola's side at the Etihad Stadium this weekend, in a bid to close the gap on the Gunners in the title race . Arsenal have carved out a comfortable lead at the top of the table, having secured victories in each of their last five matches . The north London outfit could further extend their lead to nine points before Sunday afternoon's heavyweight clash if they manage to defeat Sunderland . Slot has expressed his excitement about going head-to-head with Guardiola, describing his team as a 'joy to watch' - unlike others. In an interview with Sky Sports , the Reds' manager said: "You're always looking forward to watching his team play. "When you are analysing every opponent, it's always nice when you play against his teams because then you have the privilege to watch five, six, seven games of his team and you never get bored. "At least I never get bored because his team always have a very good and clear idea in ball possession, they always try to make the people happy. It's a joy to watch where so many other games are not, in my opinion, a joy to watch anymore. "It's become more [about] time-wasting and things I don't like that much about the game, but which are very good tools to use to make it difficult for other teams if they play against you. "It's a new tactic in football, I would say, but this is something Pep's teams hardly do. And, of course, the Barcelona team was unbelievable. Hoping they would play on a Sunday night at 8pm, so there was one thing to look forward to at the end of the weekend. "Then when he went to his other teams, he also invented things like the inverted full-back. It's always something special if you watch a game on one of his teams. A lot of managers win - but in the style he has won his trophies - that is why he stands out when compared to many others. "I wonder if there are many managers that start their careers now that will reach 1,000 [games], especially at the level that he's worked at, because it was probably already very hard to achieve that and there's a lot of sacrifices coming with that." Jamie Carragher raised a similar point earlier this week, even if Gary Neville took issue with his stance. Speaking on The Overlap's Stick to Football podcast, the Manchester United legend said: "Carra said the other night on Monday Night Football... I thought that it was really interesting, because, to be fair, I disagree with the point, but he's not here – and I wish he was here – he said he hates long throws and somebody else said it yesterday. They hate long throws. I'm like, I love long throws." On Tuesday, the ex- Liverpool defender clarified his position. Carragher said: "For the 100th time, I didn't say that I hate set-pieces or long throws! What I don't like is every team taking long throws - and the time it's taking out of the game. "I totally get teams doing it who struggle and lack the quality of getting the ball in the box. I also like seeing how teams cope with them. "But teams that have great technical players and have spent hundreds of millions on them should be getting the ball in play as quickly as they can to get these players on the ball. I'm no football snob, but this is taking the game backwards!" Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us, and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
