JURGEN EYES A PERFECT TITLE RUN
LIVERPOOL boss Jurgen Klopp has urged his players to pursue perfection and rectify their poor away results against top six opponents by beating Chelsea tomorrow. Liverpool’s manager was taken by surprise at his weekly Melwood press conference when it was relayed to him that since winning 2-1 at Stamford Bridge in September 2016, his side have won only one of their 12 subsequent fixtures at similar venues. The lone success was against Tottenham at Wembley 12 months ago — there have been five draws and six defeats in that three-year period — and it is clear that if Liverpool, who lead the table by five points, can improve those statistics, it will only enhance their chances of finally winning the Premier League. Manchester City, by comparison, have won seven of their 12 fixtures during the same time but Klopp is not concerned that games of this nature will become Liverpool’s achilles heel. He says he would be more concerned if Liverpool had not performed away from home. ‘I remember we played against Arsenal last season,’ said Klopp. ‘We were there and it was one of the best games for a while and we did really well [but drew 1-1]. So let’s just keep going and we will see what happens.’ Though Liverpool were beaten 2-0 in Naples on Tuesday, they have not dropped points domestically since a 0-0 draw with Everton on March 3 and Klopp wants that sequence to continue in west London to consolidate their place at the top of the table. ‘It’s still the challenge — staying consistent,’ said Klopp, who gave a positive update on the fitness of Alisson Becker, with the goalkeeper having started light training on the grass. ‘There is no alternative to it. It’s not about being exciting and scoring bicycle kick goals or whatever. ‘It’s about winning football games with the way we play football and in the different ways we can play. ‘Look at the game against Napoli, they play a 4-4-2 system but with the quality of players they have it’s a system you lose the ball often in some moments. ‘Yet we controlled the game so often and came through the lines but then we didn’t create a chance that was a little bit of a problem. That’s how you have to play on the next level, control a game as long as possible and then speed up in decisive situations to score.’