Jürgen Klopp said Liverpool had sent a warning to Manchester City that “nobody gets rid of us” with their impressive recovery against Burnley at Anfield.
Liverpool moved back to within a point of the champions with an ultimately comfortable defeat of Sean Dyche’s side having fallen behind to a controversial early effort by Ashley Westwood. Two goals apiece from Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané made it nine in two home league games for Liverpool and 36 Premier League games unbeaten at Anfield. Their tally of 73 points from 30 games equalled the club record set in 1904-05 and 1987-88, both of which were title-winning seasons for Liverpool.
Klopp could not resist hitting back at recent criticism as he savoured victory. The Liverpool manager said: “We scored five goals two weeks ago [against Watford] and then we didn’t score v Everton and everyone asks me about more offensive line-ups. Next time we don’t score, I think you will ask me again.
“We have no problem with confidence. We didn’t have a problem after the Everton game. For me Mo Salah was the best player on the pitch today and he didn’t score. I am not sure you will see that in a lot of ratings, because he’s a striker and he didn’t score, but we have no problem with confidence. We are in a good moment.
The two-way sprint to the line
Liverpool
17 Mar Fulham (a)
31 Mar Tottenham (h)
5 Apr Southampton (a)
14 Apr Chelsea (h)**
21 Apr Cardiff (a)
26 Apr Huddersfield (h)**
4 May Newcastle (a)
12 May Wolves (h)
Manchester City
30 Mar Fulham (a)
6 Apr Cardiff (h)*
14 Apr Crystal Palace (a)**
20 Apr Tottenham (h)
24 April Man Utd (a)
28 Apr Burnley (a)**
4 May Leicester (h)
12 May Brighton (a)
*Will be moved if Manchester City reach the FA Cup semi-finals
**Subject to change depending on Champions League progress
“We need all the players and to have them fit on the pitch. We have little injury problems. Milly [James Milner] was not able to be involved, Dejan [Lovren] was not planned to be, so just do the job and that is what the boys did all the time. We have only to make sure that we stay in the really interesting competition on top of the table. The message from today is that nobody gets rid of us, if we play as we play today. We had the perfect mixture of fighting the opponent, fighting the circumstances and playing football. That was really good and I liked it.”
Klopp was also full of praise for Adam Lallana, who played an influential part in Liverpool’s first two goals on his return to the side. “We had a long training week and we had a lot of sessions,” the manager explained. “I said at the beginning of the week that it is possible [for the players] to show up. Adam used that. It is not only Adam, but especially him. It was clear; if he can play like he trained, then he will help us a lot and that is exactly how it happened. He is always good on the ball but he is a pretty aggressive boy as well.”
