Christian Kabasele believes Watford ended Liverpool’s hopes on an unbeaten season by realising they had to fight fire with fire.
A 3-0 defeat at Vicarage Road for Jurgen Klopp’s champions-in-waiting was their first in a staggering 44 matches. Victory for Watford had sent shock waves around the Premier League.
Kabasele revealed his side were confident of an upset after doing their homework beforehand under boss Nigel Pearson.
"We noticed that they commit a lot of players in attack,” said the Congo-born star. “so maybe at some moments we would have a one-on-one situation with their defender or maybe we would have a lot of space in behind.
“When you see our second goal that's how we scored -- a simple pass in behind the defence, after (which) Ismaila Sarr did the job."
Watford remain the only team to beat Liverpool in the Premier League this season. They are also one of only five sides to see off the Reds in all comptetitions.
The others were Napoli and Atletico Madrid in the Champions League and Chelsea in the FA Cup. Although Aston Villa knocked Liverpool out of the League Cup, Klopp fielded a youth team as the club was competing in the Club World Cup Cup in Qatar at the same time.
The German played a strong side at Watford, however, only to be left stunned by the ferocity of their desire to stay in the Premier League.
"We believed in ourselves the week before,” Kabasele told CNN. “All the training, all the preparation to the game, we were thinking that they will lose one game at one moment of the season, so why not (to) us?
“Especially at (our home) stadium, where we beat Man Utd, we drew against Arsenal and Tottenham .”
Despite the setback, Liverpool now need just two more victories to lift a first league title since 1990.
