LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Arne Slot says he's not thinking about Liverpool clinching the Premier League title on Sunday.
The Dutchman would join a small group of coaches to win the title in their first year in charge at a new club.
“The honest answer is no, but I’m not sure if you believe me,” Slot said Friday when questioned about securing the crown. “I’m not looking backwards a lot, and I’m not looking forward a lot. That’s the type of person that I am.”
Liverpool is on the verge of sealing its 20th English top-flight title, which would equal Manchester United's record. It can happen Sunday if, first, Ipswich beats second-place Arsenal, and then Liverpool defeats Leicester.
“My thoughts are not on that at all,” said Slot, whose team holds a 13-point lead with six games left.
Slot, who replaced Jurgen Klopp last summer, is set to join elite company. Jose Mourinho (Chelsea, 2004-05), Carlo Ancelotti (Chelsea, 2009-10), Manuel Pellegrini (Manchester City, 2013-14), Claudio Ranieri (Leicester, 2015-16), and Antonio Conte (Chelsea, 2016-17) all won the Premier League in their first season. Of that group, only Ranieri had previously coached in the division.
It wouldn't be the first time that a Liverpool manager accomplished the feat. Joe Fagan led the Reds to the top-flight title in 1984, two years before Kenny Dalglish did the same.
Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah have both signed two-year extensions, but Slot offered no insights on the contract status of Trent Alexander-Arnold. The right back has been strongly linked to a move to Real Madrid this summer.
“We don't talk about this as long as things are not done yet, and they aren’t, so that’s why we don’t talk in public about this situation,” Slot said.
Alexander-Arnold, whose current contract ends in the summer, could be an option off the bench for the game at Leicester, the manager added. The defender has returned to training after being sidelined with an ankle injury sustained more than five weeks ago.
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Liverpool's manager Arne Slot, right, talks to Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister during the English Premier League soccer match between Fulham and Liverpool, at Craven Cottage, London, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Liverpool's manager Arne Slot celebrates at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield in Liverpool, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aiming to slash public subsidies to PBS and NPR as he alleged “bias” in the broadcasters’ reporting.
The order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies “to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS" and further requires that that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations. The White House, in a social media posting announcing the signing, said the outlets “receive millions from taxpayers to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as 'news.'”
It's the latest move by Trump and his administration to utilize federal powers to control or hamstring institutions whose actions or viewpoints he disagrees with. Since taking office, Trump has ousted leaders, placed staff on administrative leave and cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to artists, libraries, museums, theaters and others, through takeovers of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Trump has also pushed to withhold federal research and education funds from universities and punish law firms unless they agreed to eliminate diversity programs and other measures Trump has found objectionable.
The broadcasters get roughly half a billion dollars in public money through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and have been preparing for the possibility of stiff cuts since Trump's election, as Republicans have long complained about them.
Paula Kerger, PBS’ CEO and president, said in a statement last month that the Trump administration’s effort to rescind funding for public media would “disrupt the essential service PBS and local member stations provide to the American people.”
“There’s nothing more American than PBS, and our work is only possible because of the bipartisan support we have always received from Congress,” she said. “This public-private partnership allows us to help prepare millions of children for success in school and in life and also supports enriching and inspiring programs of the highest quality.”
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting sued Trump earlier this week over his move to fire three members of its five-person board, contending that the president was exceeding his authority and that the move would deprive the board of a quorum needed to conduct business.
Just two weeks ago, the White House said it would be asking Congress to rescind funding for the CPB as part of a $9.1 billion package of cuts. That package, however, which budget director Russell Vought said would likely be the first of several, has not yet been sent to Capitol Hill.
The move against PBS and NPR comes as his administration has been working to dismantle the U.S. Agency for Global Media, including Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which were designed to model independent news gathering globally in societies that restrict the press. Those efforts have faced pushback from federal courts, who have ruled in some cases that the Trump administration may have overstepped its authority in holding back funds appropriated to the outlets by Congress.
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AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed.
President Donald Trump arrives to give a commencement address at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
FILE - The headquarters for National Public Radio (NPR) is seen in Washington, April 15, 2013. AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
