Klopp says Liverpool are up against ‘best team in world’

Premier League: Southampton v Liverpool

Kick off: 8pm. Venue: St Mary's Stadium. On TV: Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports PL.

Jürgen Klopp said Liverpool are competing with the best team in the world for the Premier League title but that is no guarantee Manchester City will complete an unprecedented quadruple at his club's expense.

Liverpool can regain a two-point lead at the top with victory at Southampton on Friday night as they pursue a first championship since 1990. City’s focus switches to an FA Cup semi-final against Brighton on Saturday, with Pep Guardiola’s side seeking a clean sweep of domestic honours, plus a first Champions League title.

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Klopp believes talk of a City quadruple is merited on form. While that may be an attempt to increase pressure on his rivals the Liverpool manager insists his players will not shy from fighting City all the way for the Premier League and – possibly – Champions League trophies.

"City look like the best team in the world, that's how it is," said Klopp. "Barcelona struggled a little bit [against Villarreal on Tuesday] but still did the job. Juve look pretty impressive in Italy but you don't exactly know how it will be in the Champions League if Cristiano Ronaldo cannot do it. With City, those are the three big Champions League favourites and you think, okay, City look a bit more stable than all of them.

Challenge

“But that doesn’t mean they will win all their games. I can imagine people think that but it doesn’t make it more likely. I’m just interested in our games and we cannot do more than win our games. We will try to win them with all we have. We were really happy after Sunday [beating Spurs 2-1] but we knew pretty quick Southampton was the next challenge, then Porto, then Chelsea, then Porto again. There is a lot to come and the only thing I can say is that we try everything to be really ready for that fight.”

Klopp said he “really felt the power of Anfield” in the crowd’s reaction after Tottenham’s equaliser threatened their title hopes. “The difference was so big in how the crowd reacted after the equaliser,” he said. “That was massive, really massive.” And, while the focus may be on City’s prospects of winning four trophies and not Liverpool’s chances of claiming two, Klopp admits that standpoint is understandable.

“If I was watching from outside I’d probably say the same,” he said. “You see City playing. They won 2-0 against Fulham. We won 2-1 against Fulham, because we made a mistake that we usually don’t make. Watching from outside you’d think it looks like City can win all four and I’d think the same but I’m not interested what people think, especially those who aren’t with us.”

– Guardian