The festive period is intense for every Premier League club but Liverpool’s Sadio Mane is ready for it, beginning with tomorrow’s game against Everton in the Merseyside Derby.
Liverpool began the festive period with a convincing 3-0 victory away to Middlesbrough thanks to a double from Adam Lallana and a fifth goal in five games for Divock Origi.
Stoke City and Manchester City await before the new year at Anfield before the Reds travel to Sunderland on January 2nd and Mane is looking forward to the upcoming fixtures.
Festive period difficult for Liverpool
First up though they take on Everton in what will be Mane’s first taste of a Merseyside derby and the Senegalese international is confident Liverpool can take all three points away from Goodison Park.
Speaking to the club's official website, he said: “I think in the Premier League everything is quite the same, it’s [Everton’s] a tough game [but] why not? I think with the quality we have we can beat every team in the league so I don’t know why we can’t go there and win.”
Liverpool looking forward to the festive season
This stage of the season is extremely demanding physically for players but Mane, who will go away to the African Cup of Nations next month, doesn’t believe it will become an issue for the squad who are looking forward to the busy period.
“It’s not easy but I think everybody’s used to doing it. I think it’s no problem for us so everybody’s excited and looking forward to this time, I think we can do it.”
Liverpool will want to keep the pressure on league leaders Chelsea who have opened up a commanding lead at the top of the league table and Mane acknowledged that “we have a bit of distance to Chelsea” but he is more concerned about Liverpool concentrating on their own games and ignoring their rivals’ results.
The summer signing said that for the Liverpool squad, "the most important thing is not to think about where they are, it’s to focus on ourselves and go game by game, and try to win the games, until the end of the season.”