Jürgen Klopp has claimed the difference in quality between Liverpool and Chelsea is not as big as the Premier League table would suggest, although he says his team lack the “cold as ice” mentality of Antonio Conte’s leaders.
Chelsea are 14 points above third-placed Liverpool and will regain the Premier League title should they extend that gap to 17 with victory at West Bromwich Albion on Friday. Klopp accepts Conte’s team will be worthy champions – albeit while reiterating his belief that Chelsea had greater fortune with injuries than their rivals – but disputes the table provides an accurate gauge of their superiority over Liverpool.
Klopp, whose side produced the best results in meetings between the top six this season, insisted: “You have to look at the games we played against Chelsea. We were not worse than 16 points, or whatever it is at the moment, that is for sure. But they are experienced, cold as ice and they get the points. They play very serious and finish when they have to finish. Now they are in a good run again and difficult to stop but we will all have a different season next year. It’s not just about Chelsea. You saw how we played against Tottenham.
“We all know the gap is not that big but the gap was big enough. Chelsea deserve the title but I said already they had most luck with injuries. Diego Costa? Did he miss one game? Eden Hazard one game? Pedro could play, Willian could play, their defensive line could play. You need this luck.”
Klopp also believes Liverpool would have been closer to the summit had Sadio Mané been available more often. The Senegal forward missed seven matches in January because of the Africa Cup of Nations – though only two of them were in the Premier League – and saw his season brought to an end by a knee injury on 1 April. Klopp accepts the absence of Mané, named players’ player and supporters’ player of the year at the club’s awards night, had too big an impact on Liverpool’s performance levels.
“For sure,” he said. “A player like Sadio with the impact he had on our game, each team would miss it. You really cannot compare. What if Chelsea play all or a lot of the season without Eden Hazard? It makes a difference. To say actually you should have another player like him? It is not that easy, I would say. It is good we have him and we have not done that bad. A few weeks ago we spoke about how good we did without him. Everything is still in our hands.
“For him it was really nice [to win the awards]. He was touched by the fact his team-mates selected him. It is a hard challenge to become our player of the season. You have Roberto Firmino, Adam Lallana, Phil Coutinho, Gini Wijnaldum and Emre Can who have all played their parts. It shows a lot of things are not that bad even if not everything is how we wanted.
“When we talk about our games it seems they are the most difficult even when some say they the most easy. All the teams have to play tough games and no one wins all of them. Now we have to win ours and it will be fine.”
Liverpool may have dropped two valuable points at home to Southampton last Sunday but they retain control of their own destiny regarding Champions League qualification. Victories in the final two games of the season, at West Ham United on Sunday and at home to Middlesbrough on Sunday week, would complete a return to the European elite.
The manager added: “This is a little bit our situation – we think we have to win all the time because the rest win. The rest do not win all the time but we always feel under pressure. Yes we were stiff in the [Southampton] game, we were not as fluid as we could be but we had our moments and could have played the game better, but it could have been worse. Now let’s go for it. A week ago we thought we had to win all three. Now we know a draw and a win could be enough depending on other results. That is the situation so let’s feel the opportunity together.”