Arne Slot said on Friday that Liverpool would never use their grief over the death of Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car crash in July, “as an excuse” for bad results as he seeks to arrest a run of five defeats in six EPL games. 

Slot was asked on the eve of Liverpool’s match against Nottingham Forest whether his team were being judged fairly, given the raw emotion over Jota’s death. “I know that it’s an issue for us. But [the extent of the grief] is impossible for me to say and we will never use it as an excuse because that doesn’t feel right,” said the Dutch coach.