Arsenal will welcome Liverpool to the Emirates on Sunday (4.30pm) on the back of a badly-needed 1-0 Champions League win at home to Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday night.
While it was not a performance that will have struck fear in Slot's table-topping side - who have won 10 of their opening 11 games in all competitions so far this season - it will have lifted the Gunners' spirits after a damaging weekend.
Their 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth ensured they now find themselves three points behind defending champions Manchester City and four behind Liverpool at the top of the Premier League standings.
It was a defeat that was a direct result of William Saliba becoming the third Arsenal player to be sent off in their last six league matches. The France international centre-back will be suspended against the Reds as a result.
The last thing Mikel Arteta needed then was to see Riccardo Calafiori forced off in the second half against Shakhtar. The Gunners boss is also currently without three other defenders, in Jurrien Timber, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney, while captain Martin Odegaard and star forward Bukayo Saka are also rated doubtful to face Liverpool.
But amid that worrying injury backdrop, and what he even admitted was a "tired" performance against the Ukrainian champions, Arteta has vowed that his team will be "flying" come Sunday's huge encounter.
"Two very different halves," Arteta said after the win over Shakhtar, for whom goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk scored an own goal before saving a Leandro Trossard penalty. "The first one we were very dominant and created four big, big chances.
"We should have put the game to bed with the amount of dominance and territory that we had. We looked tired. We lacked that sharpness with and without the ball to regain the ball in the right moments and areas and gave certain balls away that allow certain transitions. We had chances again and missed a big penalty.
"That emotion was difficult to overcome and then we had to dig in. But credit to them. They are a big side and the moment you give them space and you hand them chances in transition they look a real threat.
"But overall it’s Champions League, get the win, clean sheet. Let’s move on.
"We played two nights ago with players coming from internationals after flying from Brazil and many countries.
"I was expecting a bit of a drop off. And the fact that we put so much in the first half and didn’t get the distance in terms of the scoreline, I think we paid a bit for that.
"Then we made life more difficult for us because we started give the ball away in not the right areas and then it was more open. That didn’t help.
“But we have now four days. Believe me, come Sunday we’ll be flying."
The victory leaves Arsenal fourth in the new-look Champions League group-stage standings with seven points from a possible nine. The top eight sides automatically qualify for the round of 16 with the teams finishing in ninth to 24th place competing in a two-legged play-off to progress to the knockout rounds.
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