Arne Slot was proud of the mental and physical resilience of his Liverpool side after they defeated Newcastle United 2-0 to increase their lead at the top of the Premier League.

Goals in either half from Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister at Anfield on Wednesday night sent the Reds 13 points clear.

Szoboszlai opened the scoring in the 11th minute and Mac Allister sealed the victory with a well-taken effort in front of the Kop midway through the second half.

On what impressed him most about the win...

What impressed me most was that this was our fifth game in 15 days and the four before weren't the most simple ones. So, Everton we all know how an emotional game that was for both teams but definitely for us as well and then Wolves and then two difficult away games with [Aston] Villa and [Manchester] City. To show up the way we did tonight, hardly conceding a chance against a very good team like Newcastle, is a big compliment for the players [in] how they handled these five games in 15 days.

On how he keeps his players 'fresh'...

I've explained it already a few times that that's the biggest reason why I didn't take these players to Plymouth Argyle because then they have to travel again, they are away from home, they might have to play 10, 15, 30, 45 minutes because I would definitely have used them if I would have taken them – and that means for them no rest. That's why I didn't take them to PSV Eindhoven as well because I believe in the fact that these players are able to play five games in 15 days like they show. But they can't do this for 10 months in a row, so they need to have, once in a while, a break. We are talking about a break if I'm talking about five, six days of not playing a game of football.

That's why I'm still a bit disappointed that we don't play on the weekend because, of course, Mo [Salah] wouldn't have played, of course Virgil [van Dijk] wouldn't have played but it would have been an ideal moment for the likes of Harvey Elliott, Jarell Quansah, Federico Chiesa and all the others to get some playing time as well to keep them ready for the end phase of the season. So, unfortunately we're out but that also means that the players have two days off now and then from Saturday onwards we fully focus on Paris Saint-Germain.

On whether the league title feels 'close' now...

I don't know because I don't think that way. I think about Paris Saint-Germain already. What you don't know but what I do know because I watched them against City, because we played City, and I'm impressed by the quality they have. I think they are in a similar run as we are – hardly lost any single game for a long time. Though I'm not always correct in data because two days ago my son told me that I made a big, big, big mistake by saying Cristiano Ronaldo never played in the Premier League! So, I'm not sure if Paris Saint-Germain has the same run as ours but they are doing really well. So, my main focus is on Paris Saint-Germain. I forget the league table now, I forget the Premier League now until the moment we've played Paris Saint-Germain and then I will start to think about the Premier League again.

On whether he feels Liverpool are getting stronger at a critical phase in the season...

I think what impressed me most was the mental strength in both games. Because after Everton, a bit [after] Wolves, maybe a bit after the Villa game, people started to question us a bit and normally when players or people get questions, you always see extra work-rate. That's quite normal and what I saw us doing against City. But if you get a lot, a lot, a lot of compliments, eight out of 10 people get a bit complacent – but only the ones that want to achieve something don't. That mentality of these two out of 10 I saw tonight because they just found an extra gear to work even harder. We weren't perfect – I think we lost more simple balls than we usually do – but the mentality was great again, as well as the squad performance.