Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has called on teammates and fans to make Anfield a “horrible” place for visiting sides as the Reds look to see out the Premier League title race.

As a result of Arsenal’s weekend defeat and Liverpool winning handsomely against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, Arne Slot’s side hold an 11-point lead over the Gunners.

Arsenal have a game in hand but are struggling with injuries to key attackers and many have already decided that the gulf is enough to pre-emptively label Liverpool as champions.

The talk from Anfield is, understandably, that complacency cannot be allowed to creep in. They have 11 Premier League games left, of which the majority are going to be at Anfield. For Van Dijk, that is a significant advantage for the team looking for a second league title in six seasons.

“It is a human [reaction] that there could be some anxious feelings kicking in, and that could still be the case,” he has told reporters in the wake of Sunday’s result. “But I think it only helps us and [the fans] as well to make Anfield horrible for the opponent. Most of the time we have been doing that, and obviously the way we play helps with that as well.

“How many home games left? Seven out of 11. Let’s make sure those seven are going to be amazing, as loud as possible. I don’t think we have to speak about it because normally that is the case.”

Van Dijk helped Liverpool to the drought-ending 2019/20 Premier League title, one of eight surviving players from that season’s squad. The Dutchman has also won two League Cups, the FA Cup and the Champions League, but a potential era of dominance has been quashed by Manchester City.

On two occasions in recent seasons, Liverpool have exceeded 90 points in the Premier League, tallies that would ordinarily equate to being presented the trophy, only to still finish second.

For Van Dijk, it could even be a swansong, out of contract at the end of the season with no clear direction with regard to his future and Real Madrid linked with an opportunistic transfer.