KLOPP:WE’RE ON RED ALERT FOR BORO
JURGEN KLOPP insists his Liverpool stars will finish the job against Middlesbrough next week after closing in on a Champions League return.
Philippe Coutinho made one and scored two as part of a man-of-the-match display against the Hammers.
Victory at Anfield against already-relegated Boro will see the Reds back in the elite competition for only the second time in eight seasons.
Klopp said: “The first sentence the players said in the dressing room was, ‘One more time. One more game.’
“We will stay focused. We know about the difficulty of the next game, nobody will underestimate it.
“Middlesbrough have had a tough season and it’s hard in a season like this to enjoy football.
“I’m pretty sure they’ll want to enjoy the game at Anfield, they’ll want to try things and that makes life difficult for us.
“If we can be as focused as today and as fluent and have as good movements as this game then we’ll be fine.”
Coutinho set up Sturridge for his first goal since January 10 minutes before the break.
Brazilian Coutinho then hit two goals in four sensational, second-half minutes to end any doubt about the result.
Divock Origi took advantage of some shambolic defending to tap in a fourth in 76 minutes but Klopp claimed it was more difficult than it looked.
He said: “It was a fantastic game but difficult. We ended well but started badly.
“We scored some really nice goals but in the first half West Ham had big chances to equalise before half-time.
“It was really unlucky for them and we got the rub of the green at times throughout the game.
“West Ham have not had too much luck this season.”