Klopp brushes away title talk but wants Liverpool to make Anfield a fortress again

Jurgen Klopp was bemused to be asked about Liverpool’s Premier League title hopes ahead of their clash with Manchester City.

The Reds won the championship last season but sit fourth heading into the weekend, seven points behind leaders City having played a game more.

And City head to Anfield in top form, having won 13 consecutive matches in all competitions – one short of the all-time record for a top-flight English side.

Andy Robertson acknowledged after Liverpool’s midweek loss to Brighton and Hove Albion that they were not in a title race “at this moment”, an assessment Klopp agrees with, even if he continues to be questioned on their end-of-season hopes.

The manager told a news conference on Friday: “After two years now of getting this question all the time, when we were close enough that it might make some sense…

“I just don’t see it in the moment. You have to win football games. If you do that often enough then there’s a specific moment in the season when it’s clear: okay, now we go for it.

“We were in the last two years in that situation, now we are not.

“So why should we think about it? What we have to think about is collecting enough points that it might happen in April, May again. But I don’t know yet, so why should we think about it?

“We only think about it because we get asked, but it’s not what drives you, it’s not what gets you up in the morning or drives us through the day, being so close to City or whoever is top of the table.

“We really try hard in a very, very tricky season. We will try and continue trying, Sunday and the next time.”