Arne Slot will soon be forced to make Liverpool U-turn after Curtis Jones masterclass

So far this season, Arne Slot has been nothing if not consistent. The message to his players has remained the same and the message to the media likewise: essentially, 'good start, but we've not played the real tests yet'.

Chelsea, even though it is now seven points behind Liverpool in the Premier League standings, certainly has shown signs of promise. This was Liverpool's biggest win yet under its new head coach, and it had to fight to the end to get the three points over the line.

Enzo Maresca's men had more of the ball, but Liverpool — driven forward by the exceptional Curtis Jones — created a greater number of chances and finished more of them. Jones and Mohamed Salah's strikes proved to be the difference despite the plethora of attacking talents on the Stamford Bridge side's roster.

This was win number 10 for Slot in 11 games at the Liverpool helm. That is the Reds' best start to a new era since 1990-91, when then-manager Kenny Dalglish had an identical record. During the Premier League era, only Manchester City's Pep Guardiola , who won his first 10 matches, has reached that many wins in all competitions in fewer games.

Still, though, Slot refuses, understandably, to get carried away. "I say don’t judge us after this game, judge us after the next seven," he insisted post-match. "We have Leipzig, Arsenal, Brighton twice, Bayer Leverkusen and Aston Villa, then Real Madrid ."

With RB Leipzig and Arsenal still to come this week and the rest of that run of fixtures looking relatively daunting too, Liverpool has only just begun the test rather than having already passed it. At some point, though, Slot will have to accept that his side is going places.

On this occasion, it was Jones who was the star of the show as he produced a midfield masterclass. Midweek, it could be Luis Diaz or Darwin Nunez , neither of whom started here, such is the depth that Liverpool can call upon. Beyond that, it could be Alexis Mac Allister , Ryan Gravenberch or one of countless others.

"Our biggest test is to play different competitions, three hard games in a week," Slot continued. "You saw how difficult it was for us two years ago and last year for Manchester United and Newcastle.

"It is what Arsenal and Manchester City can do. We had to fight really hard to get this one over the line. I have a lot of confidence in this team but always saw we had some problems. Trent (Alexander-Arnold) did not train for a few days after coming back from England duty, then we had Macca (Mac Allister)."

At some point, at least at this rate, Slot will have to U-turn on his stance of saying the biggest matches are yet to come. Arsenal is next weekend, and eyes will be drawn, by the November international break at the latest, to the huge clash with Manchester City at Anfield, which is already on the horizon at the start of December.

If Chelsea isn't an opponent worthy of Slot performing a U-turn on his stance, those two certainly will be. While he publicly cannot admit it, privately he must know that this was a significant victory that places Liverpool at the heart of the title conversation. It was, by a distance, his most impressive win as Reds boss yet.