Liverpool are seven points off the top four, but have a game in hand. With fourth-placed Chelsea high on confidence, it might be difficult for the Reds to leapfrog them into the top four places.
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With their Champions League hopes fading, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp reckons that they are responsible “for the situation we are in”. The Reds are currently in seventh spot, seven points behind fourth-placed Chelsea in the Premier League. However, Liverpool have a game in hand after their match against Manchester United was postponed last Sunday due to fans’ protest. With Chelsea high on confidence after securing Champions League and FA Cup final spots, it will need a monumental collapse by the Blues to allow Liverpool to sneak into the top four.
Ahead of their match against Southampton, Klopp was asked on how Liverpool will react should they miss out on Champions League football next season. He said, “We are not kids in a candy shop who are not getting the candies, but stands there. We are responsible for the situation we are in and nobody will watch next year’s Champions League lying in front of the television and cry if we are not involved. That’s the situation in football, it is completely normal but that will not be a challenge.”
“If somebody would struggle with that hopefully I would realise that early and could sort that situation early. I am pretty sure I would recognise it early. So, again, the good things that happened in the last few years we did together and this season we did together as well. The reaction on this season we will show together as well, that’s clear.”
The Liverpool manager said it is a “bit strange” to talk about next season when they still have five games left to play in this campaign. “It is difficult, it is strange really, I sit here and some [of you] think we have a chance for the Champions League and for that we have to be concentrated on that. Some people obviously think we don’t have a chance anymore, so we should already write the season off,” he added.
“We have still five games to play and to talk about a new season and how we will react, it is a bit strange. We play Southampton tomorrow and then we play Manchester United and so on, so we have some games to play and we will be 100 per cent focused on that. We will deal with our situation, make the best of it, and then some of us have quite a long summer.”
