Trent Alexander-Arnold will always be remembered at Liverpool – Virgil van Dijk

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk is not putting pressure on Trent Alexander-Arnold to sign a new contract and says if the defender decides to leave he will always be remembered at the club.

Alexander-Arnold returned from an injury lay-off to fire the Reds to within three points of the Premier League title, scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win at Leicester, who suffered relegation to the Sky Bet Championship.

The right-back is out of contract in the summer and has been heavily linked with a free transfer to Real Madrid, for which he has received some criticism.

Van Dijk recently ended speculation about his own future by signing a new contract, does not know whether Alexander-Arnold will follow suit.

“Whatever may happen in the future for him, that’s something that he has to resolve with himself and the family,” he said. “But he’s a Liverpool player at this point and he’s important for our team.

“Since I joined the club, he has been a fantastic player and there’s a lot of good things that he will always be remembered for if he decides to leave.

“But listen, at this point, we don’t know as a group what’s going to happen.

“He is already under a lot of pressure already I think so there is no point for me to put him on the spot whatsoever.”

Alexander-Arnold celebrated the goal with gusto, taking his shirt off and running to the jubiliant Liverpool fans.

“It’s a big moment,” Van Dijk added. “There’s a lot of noise around him. And obviously everyone can argue if it’s his own fault or it’s just part of life nowadays.

“Whether he stays or leave, we shouldn’t take for granted he gave us as a team the opportunity on Sunday to finish off.

“I think we forget that we are dealing with a human being. Sometimes he goes through so many moments in the last couple of months, and everyone will have an opinion on the way he’s obviously been, but for us as players, we want to win games, and he’s been important throughout the whole season.

“And there’s still games to go, and we need to have the best Trent Alexander-Arnold, and what will happen in the future will happen, that’s life and football, and we’ll see.”

Alexander-Arnold’s goal meant Liverpool will get their hands on a 20th top-flight title and a second in the Premier League era if Arsenal fail to beat Crystal Palace in midweek.

If the Gunners win, Liverpool can finish the job by beating Tottenham at Anfield next Sunday.

Van Dijk says the squad will watch the Arsenal game together, just in case Palace do the work for them.

“To be honest, I expect Arsenal to win at home,” the Dutchman said. “But if it doesn’t happen, then I think it will be nice to be together.

“However that may look, we’ll discuss in the next couple of days, if Arsenal win their game, they probably expect they will do against a very good Crystal Palace, we have to do our job.

“It doesn’t matter (when). I want to be champions of England. I want to let this dream become true.

“I would love to lift the cup for this club that I love so much, if it doesn’t happen on Wednesday, then we have an opportunity on Sunday to do it in front of our own fans, in front of a red Anfield and it will be special, that’s for sure.”