The trip to Selhurst Park will not be easy for the Reds since many teams have struggled at that ground in the past.
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Liverpool kickstart the weekend Premier League action by taking on Crystal Palace in the early kick-off on Saturday. The trip to Selhurst Park will not be easy for the Reds since many teams have struggled at that ground in the past. However, the form is on Liverpool side, as they have been performing brilliantly so far this campaign. Hence, it will be interesting to see if the Reds can maintain that momentum in this game.
Ahead of their upcoming Premier League contest, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp opened up about how he first got to know about Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson. Asked about Roy Hodgson’s long career in football management, Klopp, quoted on the club’s website, said, “When Roy was in Switzerland he implemented a 4-4-2, stuff like this. My former manager, Wolfgang Frank, showed us a lot of videos of him, so it was Arrigo Sacchi and Roy Hodgson actually.”
He added: “So that was the first time when he crossed my way. I’m really pleased that I met him then here in the Premier League because he is an outstanding person and a really nice man, but actually always when I see him I ask him, ‘What are you doing here still?’ But he looks happy and enjoys it; not so happy when he is losing games but in general with the job. So, I couldn’t respect it more. He was my inspiration but he is not inspiring me to work in that job that long! I don’t know how he’s doing that, to be honest, but yeah, great guy.”
If second-placed Liverpool beat Palace, they can go atop the league table until other teams play their games. However, Klopp said his focus is primarily on the three points rather than the top spot for now. “So, with playing Europa League you are obviously usually on the other side of that. And I can tell you we ignore usually the results from other teams because we play Thursday and then Sunday when everybody already played on Saturday or whatever. So usually they already won their games. I don’t feel that kind of pressure from other teams, we want to win our game, and Arsenal doesn’t need extra pressure, they play Aston Villa, so that’s enough [of] a job to do. There’s nothing,” he stated.
He added: “We have a job to do and that’s against Crystal Palace. Let’s be 100 per cent focused on that, what we are and what we will be. Then Sunday, I have no clue who plays on Sunday but then I will lie at home on the sofa in the afternoon and watch the other football games and will see what they do – more out of interest if we play them still and that’s it. But nobody became champion because he was top of the table on Saturday at 2.15pm, or whatever, on matchday 16. That doesn’t really help. But we need the points and we want to go for them, and that’s what we prepare for in this short space of time.”
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