Van Dijk: Anything is possible on the final day

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk warned Manchester City they cannot take anything for granted on the final day of the Premier League season.

Defending champions City head into Sunday’s away match with Brighton and Hove Albion a point better off than Liverpool, who play Wolves at Anfield.

The Reds need to beat Wolves and hope for a helping hand from 17th-place Brighton if they are to win the title for the first time in the Premier League era.

Van Dijk is refusing to give up hope, especially in a week that saw Liverpool recover from a three-goal deficit to overcome Barcelona 4-3 on aggregate in their incredible Champions League semi-final.

WE’RE GOING TO MADRID!! #UCL pic.twitter.com/HHny3fgye0

— Virgil van Dijk (@VirgilvDijk) May 8, 2019

“It is on, but you have to be realistic,” he told Sky Sports. “The way City have been playing all season everyone should expect them to win. But you never know and the only thing we can do is focus on beating Wolves, because that is a very big task as well.

“Everyone is talking about Brighton doing something, but we need to focus on what is in front of us because Wolves have been outstanding this season and make it difficult for any team. That’s why they are where they are in the table.

“But we’re at home, it’s our last game of the season and we want to give everything we’ve got, and we will. If we win we’ve done our job, we will have done what we could do and then we will see what will happen at Brighton.

“We’ve been showing throughout the whole season in moments that we never give up and keep going. We keep believing, doing the right things.

“Sometimes you have that bit of luck, but you’ve got to keep doing the right things. This week was an outstanding week for us in the Champions League and we will see how Sunday will unfold.”

Liverpool face the prospect of racking up a whopping 97 points and still missing out on top-flight silverware yet Van Dijk is keen to take positives out of his side’s remarkable campaign.

T E A M pic.twitter.com/7p7sCPlrtX

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) May 9, 2019

“You will feel a little bit disappointed because everyone that close wants to win the league,” the Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year said.

“That’s the standard that City sets for all of us in the league. They’ve been outstanding and amazing to do it again almost for a second season. It’s unbelievable.

“But we’ve got to keep our heads up, we have a big final coming up, but even then, if you look at our results in the league and how we’ve played all season, we can be very proud of ourselves.

“This is just the start for all of us. I came in last winter and I feel we’ve made so much progress since then – the club have made many big steps.

“We have to take a lot of good things from this season into next and do it again or even better. Then we will see what the rest are going to do. The most important thing is to keep doing it every year.

“If we have to do it next season with over 100 points we will try and do it. But we are still in it [this year] and we have to believe, but we have to be realistic as well. It’s not in our hands and the only thing we can do is beat Wolves.”