Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has heaped praise on fellow rivals Manchester United and Arsenal after their solid resurgence this season. While it has taken time for United to adapt to their new manager Erik ten Hag, they are steadily making progress now. On the other hand, Arsenal have experienced a sudden burst of form this season as they sit atop of the Premier League as serious title contenders.
The Reds’ boss was discussing this season’s top-four race which is nicely heating up. A lot many surprises have been witnessed till now, with Arsenal, Manchester City, Newcastle and Tottenham [ in the respective order of standings] constituting the top-four at the moment. However, after a slow start, Liverpool and Chelsea are not far behind and Brighton too are fancying their chances sitting seventh in the table.
Jurgen Klopp admits this season has been ‘tough’ for his Reds
Liverpool had a rather disastrous start to their season, going winless in their opening three league games, and collecting only two wins from the first eight outings. With title lost by that time, Liverpool were even in the danger of missing out on Champions League qualifications, with the likes of Newcastle United, Brighton and Manchester United, who too lost their first two league games were redeeming themselves.
However, slowly and steadily, Jurgen Klopp is reviving his team who now sit sixth in the league table, still five points adrift of the top-four. In that time, United have made up for their poor start and Ronaldo-fiasco as they climbed up to fifth. Meanwhile, Klopp had special praise for Newcastle, who are unexpectedly occupying the a spot in he top-four, that too as high as the third place. Asked about the top-four race, Klopp told the Manchester Evening News:
“I think it was tough every year, to be honest. We did it quite early for three of the last four years. Credit to us if you want because it was always tricky but, of course, we all knew that Newcastle would be a massive contender from now on and it’s clear with Man United and Arsenal playing an exceptional season, all respect for that, City is City so all of a sudden you have four teams occupying, Tottenham fighting hard, Chelsea still there.
“We are back to a top six or top seven, if you like, and only four can make it. We know that, we know that absolutely. The quality of the opponents is obviously clear but most of the things we can still sort ourselves.
“If they win all the time we cannot get closer but we meet some of them and, for us, we are under pressure like other teams are under pressure because it’s not the nicest thing to have us three or five points behind you. That doesn’t give you any kind of security but we better play a special second half of the season to have a chance to make it to the Champions League, which is obviously our target.”
The top-four has more contenders than the usual -top-six’ this season, as the likes of Newcastle and Brighton are not shying away from giving the giant poachers a run for their money. Even Arsenal, who finished fifth last season are being considered as serious title challengers after sitting at the summit for almost entirety of the season till now. Although they are slowly inching towards a place in the top four, Jurgen Klopp is well aware that this season, his team will need that extra effort to lock in a top-four finish.