‘Dig in and stay in’: resilience key as epic season enters final lap
Jürgen Klopp paused for a moment as he trawled his extensive English vocabulary for the appropriate word. He eventually settled for “resilience”. This, the Liverpool manager explained, is the quality that will define the fortunes of those Premier League clubs fighting for the title, Champions League qualification and survival over the coming six weeks. There can be no wavering now.
The time for worrying about injuries on international duty is over for another season. We can agonise over every Premier League point without interruption instead. Manchester City stand eight games from becoming the first club to retain the English title since Manchester United a decade ago. Liverpool are seven steps from the heaven of their first championship in 29 years. Klopp’s team have amassed more points after 31 matches than in the entirety of 24 of the 28 seasons since Liverpool last won the league, yet will be in second place should City win at Fulham on Saturday. Pep Guardiola’s champions have raised the bar and lowered the margin for error. Liverpool’s refusal to yield has delivered the most enthralling title race in years.
“I don’t know what the English word is,” said the Liverpool manager when asked for the characteristic that will shape the run-in. “Resilience? Be kind of stubborn, do the right things again and again and again, dig in and stay in. That’s it. It’s all there. The good thing is do I have to talk about motivation with the boys? Of course not. They are all on fire.
“We had a big training squad yesterday with 21 players and only two kids involved. Usually we have five or six kids involved in the training sessions. That means they are coming back fighting for minutes on the pitch. What you need is all there but on the other hand you need to be stable, clear and not going nuts. Don’t try too hard; try it like we tried it all the time. The things you did that brought you here, you have to do it again and again and again. You cannot change now, why should we? This is our way and let’s continue on
that path.”
Klopp, whose team entertain Tottenham on Sunday, added: “The only period in the season without any interruptions is this one. Now it’s the final matches, so go for it. Nobody knows what will be on 12 May but we try everything to make it a big day for us.”
Guardiola shares the view that a period in which City “will suffer” as they pursue an unprecedented quadruple is also one to savour. His players face a more demanding sequence than their title rivals with the week of 17-24 April – Tottenham at home in both the Champions League and Premier League followed by a derby at Old Trafford – loaded with significance.
But the City manager insists: “We prefer the position we are in because it depends on us. Winning eight games will be tough, away games, other competitions, tomorrow, Burnley, Palace, Old Trafford – every game will be so tough. It will be similar to Swansea: for the rest of the season we will suffer but let’s see if we can do it. We are privileged to be in all the competitions and to fight for the title. It’s an incredible experience.
“I don’t know how many have been in this position. I think the players are fresh mentally and we are going to try. It’s still in our hands. We win all the games and we’ll be champions. Maybe we will drop points so don’t think too much [far ahead]. It’s Fulham tomorrow and win that game.”
The champions and their closest challengers have left other members of the “Big Six” in their wake for much of the campaign but the scrap to join them in next season’s Champions League is also wide open. Four points separate Spurs in third from sixthplaced Chelsea with Arsenal closing the gap on their faltering north London rivals and Manchester United’s revival enough to land Ole Gunnar Solskjaer permanent employment at Old Trafford.
Intrigue at the bottom, or cause for panic for those involved, concerns who follows Fulham and Huddersfield on their way out of the top flight after one and two seasons respectively. Huddersfield will become only the second team in the Premier League era to be relegated before the end of March should they lose to Crystal Palace on Saturday while both Burnley and Southampton win. Equalling Derby County’s unwanted record from 2007-08 of relegation after 32 games, however, should not detract from what the Terriers accomplished on a relatively miniscule budget under the management of David Wagner and the ownership of Dean Hoyle.
No sense of achievement, however fleeting, will accompany Fulham’s eventual exit. Last summer they were the first newly-promoted club in English football history to spend over £100m on new players and have 17 points plus three different faces in the managerial dug-out to show for it. The financial repercussions of relegation could be serious, although Aleksandar Mitrovic is expected to move on for a healthy profit.
Southampton, Burnley and Cardiff are most at risk of filling the final relegation berth with only two points between them. Sean Dyche’s team, burdened by three Europa League qualifying rounds that started on 26 July, have played a game more and face a daunting run-in against Chelsea, Manchester City, Everton away and Arsenal on the final day.
Neil Warnock admits it would be “a miracle” to keep Cardiff up in a campaign scarred by the tragic death of Emiliano Sala and the unedifying response to it. His players have displayed plenty of the resilience that Klopp requires for very different reasons, however. Reputations and fortunes are about to be made.
The only period in the season without any interruptions is this one. Now it’s the final matches, so go for it Jürgen Klopp