Arne Slot has suggested that both Chelsea and Manchester City have a greater squad depth than Liverpool after their defeat to Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.

Liverpool were dumped out of the competition as Ismaila Sarr’s first-half double, plus a late goal from Yeremy Pino, sealed a deserved win for Palace at Anfield.

Slot made 10 changes to his side following their 3-2 defeat away to Brentford last Saturday, while Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai, Ibrahima Konate and Hugo Ekitike were all rested ahead of Saturday’s Premier League game against Aston Villa.

Speaking after Liverpool’s sixth defeat in seven matches, Slot defended his decision to heavily rotate his team against Palace and claimed City and Chelsea do not suffer the same impact if they make changes to their side.

‘I’m not too sure that it is right what you are saying because when we played West Ham [in last season’s Carabao Cup third round] I don’t think [Mohamed] Salah was on the bench. But maybe I’m wrong, you are right, but I don’t think he was,’ Slot said.

‘So a year ago, I did, we did, the same but maybe the line-up felt differently. I said this also for the television that before I went out I saw [Manchester] City’s line-up and I don’t think they had one starter from the weekend, but it felt as if you looked at their line-up that they played with 11 starters.

‘Maybe it also gives a little bit of insight that everybody has always said how big of a squad we are having.

‘When we played Chelsea, I said they are missing eight but they can still bring Estevao in.

‘We are only missing four players at the moment and already we needed to start with four players under the age of 19 and after I made two substitutions we were on six.’

Slot also insisted he was unwilling to take a ‘risk’ on players such as Conor Bradley and believes he would have been criticised if Van Dijk or Konate had suffered an injury during the game if they were selected.

‘Last time we played Southampton here in the League Cup, Giovanni Leoni got injured, and we don’t have such a big squad as people might tell, because there was so much focus on the amount of money we spent [in the summer],’ said Slot.

‘People all of a sudden think we have 25 players available but we mainly have 20 players then we have four injuries.

‘I only have one right full-back, Conor Bradley, as an example, and every time I had to play him twice in three days or three times in seven days [last season], it led to him… that I had to take him off with a hamstring injury or something else.

‘Are you willing to take that risk with such a big week coming up? Last time I played a player that wasn’t fully prepared, we thought he was prepared but it was the first time, Alexander Isak, he got injured.

‘Last time we played Southampton, Leoni was injured and it was a red card for Hugo Ekitike. Those are the things we can’t use with a big week coming up.

‘But there’s always a choice. What if I had played Virgil [van Dijk] and Ibou [Konate], for example, if one of them got injured people would have said, ‘what a stupid choice’.

‘And also with them [first-team players] it was very difficult for us, for our starters to beat Palace because it’s not the first time we lose against them.’

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Grimsby Town boss David Artell believes Brentford will be ‘much more difficult’ opponents than Manchester United.

League Two side Grimsby face Brentford on Tuesday night for a place in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup.

The Mariners have enjoyed a superb run in the EFL Cup, stunning Premier League giants Manchester United in the second round before beating Championship side Sheffield Wednesday last time out.

Grimsby opened up a 2-0 lead over United inside 30 minutes back in August but two lates goals from the visitors sent the tie to penalties.

After a tense and lengthy shootout, Grimsby emerged triumphant with a 12-11 win to seal one of the biggest upsets in English football history.

Artell’s side will be dreaming of another upset against Brentford but the 44-year-old boss expects a ‘more difficult’ challenge from Keith Andrews’ Bees.

Brentford were tipped by many to go down earlier in the season following the departure of manager Thomas Frank and several key players – including Bryan Mbeumo who joined Manchester United.

But the west Londoners have won three of their last four games to climb to 11th – eight points outside the relegation places – and stunned defending Premier League champions Liverpool on Saturday.

Grimsby boss Artell insists Brentford are ‘fully in’ compared to United who he says are still ‘finding their way’ under Ruben Amorim.

Amorim was left fighting for his job after the embarrassing defeat to Grimsby but three successive wins has taken United to sixth and drastically improved the mood at Old Trafford.

‘I don’t want loads of letters from Manchester United fans from Kenya or Norway – or Stretford – but I think they’re still in that process of finding their way again,’ Artell said.

‘Brentford are fully in, fully understanding. That makes it so much more difficult.

‘I think everyone agrees that Man United are still – maybe not in transition per se – but finding their way under a new manager that needs to be given time.

‘I think you can see the fruits of the green shoots of progress from their side, but Brentford are not that team. Brentford are a well-established team.

‘They’ve appointed from within to continue the work that the previous manager [Thomas Frank] did, and I think everyone would suggest that Keith Andrews is doing a brilliant job and he’s taking them on.

‘You don’t beat West Ham so comprehensively, you don’t beat the reigning [Premier League] champions [Liverpool] if you haven’t got those principles of play already ingrained.

‘Whether it’s set pieces, whether it’s transitions, whether it’s in possession, whether they come and get you out of possession, all that is already really well implemented into the squad.

‘I’m not sure that was the case with Manchester United.’

On Grimsby’s game-plan against Brentford, Artell added: ‘We’re not playing for penalties. We didn’t do that against United. We went and got them and they didn’t expect it.’

Brentford are one of 11 Premier League clubs still in the Carabao Cup along with Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Fulham, Tottenham, Newcastle, Brighton, Crystal Palace and Wolves.

Newcastle are the Carabao Cup holders after Eddie Howe’s side beat Liverpool in last year’s final at Wembley.

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