Klopp enjoys rousing race
JURGEN KLOPP says his club can’t fear Manchester City’s perfection and should instead enjoy “the most exciting title race in years.”
Liverpool’s unbeaten start has been almost faultless, dropping points only to the champions and Chelsea, and yet they are not top and have three more of the big guns snapping at their heels.
As the Reds go to Arsenal for a top-four clash, that tense race brings massive pressure in every game.
But Klopp is adamant he has seen enough from his men to take it to the wire.
“Hopefully it stays like this until the end of the season. It is probably the most exciting season for years,” he said.
“Who should I doubt in that team at the moment? They all try everything and it’s not my job to look at each detail and think, ‘He could be a little bit better’, because they are all human beings. We are in a good place, and we have to see it is just exciting.
“I am a football fan as well and for a football fan it is great. It will probably be a fight at both ends of the table until the last matchday. It is our job to be ready for that. At the moment it looks like we are ready but we have to prove that many times this season.”
Skipper Jordan Henderson and fellow midfielder Naby Keita are both out, but Klopp has his strikeforce back on song for a fixture he has never lost.
In the five times he has faced Arsenal as Reds boss it has produced a staggering 27 goals, with Liverpool scoring three or more in all of them, for a total of 17.
But Klopp has told his side they can’t think about City’s incredible form, because that will only induce a pressure they can’t cope with.
He said: “For us it is not important what other teams are doing, only if we play them. We are really focused on us, and that’s the only way I know it will work. It doesn’t make sense to think like that because it puts you in a situation where you feel like you are not in charge. You react on what they do. “They win and you think about the pressure being more on us because they have won already.” Instead, Klopp will rely on his side to keep going and feels they are better equipped to deal with the pressure of matching City. “Last year a few teams played really good seasons but there was no chance to catch City because, by October-November, they were clear,” he said. “That’s why I say so far, so good. We don’t feel satisfaction. We don’t feel, ‘Wow! We’re really good’. We won, cool, let’s go again. We’ve learned to deal with that after maybe a few years where it was not that obvious the players can cope with that situation. We have grown together.”