NewsArne Slot press conference: 'Southampton is the first of three finals this week'

The Reds return to their pursuit of the Premier League title when they meet Ivan Juric's Saints at Anfield for a 3pm GMT kick-off.

It's a quick turnaround from Wednesday's 1-0 victory at Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of a Champions League last-16 tie, but Slot is adamant a fired-up home crowd can help secure the three points.

Only afterwards should attention be given to the return fixture with PSG and then the Carabao Cup final following that.

The head coach said at his pre-match press conference: "I have to convince my players that we play three finals, like I said now a few times, and I'm hoping – and that's why I every time come up with the word 'final' – that I influence our fans a bit as well.

"That they understand how important they are going to be tomorrow. I'm hoping they will not come into the stadium five minutes before the kick-off, I'm hoping the whole stadium is already completely filled half an hour before kick-off and that these players get the reward for what they did in Paris for working so hard.

"So, they have great songs. Sometimes when I look at social media I see these songs coming for Lucho [Luis Diaz] and for Virgil [van Dijk] and for Macca [Alexis Mac Allister].

"They are really creative in these songs and now let's hear them before the game tomorrow, although I'm in the stands. Maybe I can start them with Isaac [Kearney]!"

Asked whether the PSG game has taken anything out of the players mentally, Slot replied: "That's difficult to measure but that's definitely something you also feel when you are at the touchline.

"It's definitely something you take into account because you can only look at the data and probably then they run just as much as some other games.

"But there's a difference if you have 70 per cent ball possession or you have only 30 per cent ball possession. That means the runs you have to make are more from a negative mindset. If they have the ball all the time, it's not as nice as if you have the ball yourself.

"You do take that into account as well. And, of course, three or four months without any break, you take these things [into] account as well.

"That's why, of course, I was not only happy with the goal Harvey [Elliott] scored because that gives us a good advantage for the second game, but it mentally helps a lot as well to score that goal.

"So, we are in a good place. But, like I said, three finals to be played in a week [and] again after this one with only two days in between.

"A week to look forward to for every Liverpool fan, and I know the final is there and everybody is already talking to me about how the atmosphere will be on a Champions League night.

"But I hope, I hope, I truly hope, that our fans will be loudest tomorrow and not in the final and not against PSG – but tomorrow."

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Liverpool needed a heroic performance from goalkeeper Alisson Becker to leave Parc des Princes with their slender advantage.

Although acknowledging his side were, indeed, fortunate to win in Paris, Slot believes any luck was a reward for the tireless efforts of the players.

He continued: "If you want to win something – if it's the Premier League or the League Cup or the Champions League or the FA Cup – you need to have once in a while a game where you don't play your best football and you are 'lucky', which is not luck if you work as hard as we do to get away with a result.

"There are almost no teams that play 38 games, or in the Champions League it's not as much, only good football. I think Real Madrid is one of the best examples of that, they also find a way to win a game if the other team is better than them and that's what they did.

"But I'm not looking at all at the Paris Saint-Germain game anymore. Our full focus, my full focus is now on Southampton, which is the first of three finals to be played in the upcoming week."