Jurgen Klopp has likened Liverpool’s upcoming eight days of Premier League action to a Champions League week as his team aim to salvage a positive end from an inconsistent season by clinching a top-four spot.
Liverpool travel to Manchester City on Saturday afternoon before facing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday evening and then end their week by hosting Arsenal at Anfield on Easter Sunday.
Those three games will not only play a huge part in determining whether Liverpool can bridge the gap to fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, who are seven points better off but have played two games more, but also could prove pivotal in the title race with City currently trailing leaders Arsenal by eight points.
While an exit to Real Madrid in the last-16 ended Liverpool’s Champions League participation prior to the international break, Klopp is affording the next few days as much importance as a European week.
“It is like a Champions League week, you can have an English team midweek in the Champions League and we have had that in the past, yeah. I am super excited,” Klopp said. “We are not dumb. We know the last game we played in Madrid was not a good game [losing 1-0 for a 6-2 aggregate loss].
“The game before at Bournemouth was not a good game. The game before [a historic 7-0 win over Manchester United] was world class. We have to make sure we pick up from there. City have to expect we will be in a top shape and we have to turn up and really go for it.
“We play City, Chelsea and Arsenal every season but in one week is pretty special.”
'Despite points difference, this is still a massive game'
Klopp and his players realise that they cannot afford many more slip-ups if they are to finish in the top four this season. They are 19 points behind their opponents on Saturday, City, which goes to show how far below their usual level Liverpool have been this term.
Liverpool have particularly struggled on the road this season, winning only against Tottenham, Aston Villa and Newcastle United on their travels across 13 league games. Their seven losses on the road have pockmarked a troublesome campaign and no game showed Klopp’s team in as poor a light as their last defeat away to Bournemouth.
Liverpool’s record away to City is not particularly great either for a team that have challenged them closely in recent seasons. They last won a league match at the Etihad in November 2015, in one of Klopp’s first games in charge, but have collected three draws since.
They do have the upper-hand in the head-to-head this season, though, winning the league game at Anfield in October and the pre-season Community Shield but lost to City in the League Cup fourth round.
This meeting sees the two teams arrive with the same objectives but for different reasons — both are somewhat on the back foot when it comes to how they aim to finish the league campaign. “It’s an important game, that is the one thing that is not different to the other years,” said Klopp.
“I don’t say it is nicer to fight for the title, we just have to win football games and you just get what you deserve if you work hard enough and we try. We know it is a massive game, a massive week. Tomorrow they [City] deserve all the attention and that is how we approach it.
“Against City you have to be on top of your game, you have to defend on a super-high level and play football as well because the kind of dominance they can show, it is important not to forget you have to play football.”
A boost for Liverpool has come in the form of Darwin Nunez recovering from a cut ankle which forced him out of international duty with Uruguay while long-term injured players Luis Diaz and Thiago Alcantara are set to rejoin full training next week.
The return of Diaz, whose last appearance came in October before suffering from a knee injury, is particularly positive for Klopp. “It was fantastic to have him back, such an energiser and boost,” Klopp added.
“This week was the first step back into training, next week he will increase that and then he is ready I think. We have to judge him every day how he deals with the intensity but it looks really promising.”
Klopp also said that he used the international break to advance planning for the summer transfer window and insists discussions on player strategy are advancing well.
“That is the only thing we do in the international break, apart from having a few days off,” said Klopp. “The player side [was] positive, I would say. But [it was] talks not decisions – but we are busy.”