Date published: Sunday 16th January 2022 7:27 – News Desk
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is hopeful the abnormal Premier League season will give his side a chance to catch league leaders Manchester City.
A comfortable 3-0 victory over Brentford secured a first league win since mid-December and closed the gap to 11 points with a match in hand.
Klopp concedes in any other year that sort of lead would be unassailable but in a campaign being stretched by Covid-19, injuries and match postponements, he believes there remains a glimmer of optimism.
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“We don’t have to convince anyone outside to believe. If they want to believe they can believe,” said the Reds boss, whose trademark triple fist-pump to the Kop returned at the final whistle.
“If you are with us, you will enjoy the ride and we will go for everything. We are ready to go as much as we can.
“This is not the situation to talk about a title fight, it’s 11 points now with one game in hand.
The boss takes charge of his 3⃣5⃣0⃣th Reds game 🙌 #LIVBRE pic.twitter.com/Z9Jdg14jHy
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 16, 2022
“In a normal world nothing happens anymore but what is normal nowadays? We try to do our part, there is nothing else to do.”
Having been frustrated by the visitors for 44 minutes, midfielder Fabinho nodded home from a corner just before the interval for his third goal in a week to break the deadlock.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored his first league goal at Anfield since July 2020 and Takumi Minamino, on his 27th birthday, added the third.
After a first Premier League clean sheet in five attempts the only cloud was a late injury to Oxlade-Chamberlain which may see Klopp’s attacking options limited further with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane still at the African Cup of Nations.
“He (Oxlade-Chamberlain) was really good. That is the shadow on the game,” added Klopp.
“We don’t know yet but he rolled his ankle and now we hope it is nothing serious.
“Unfortunately, that is the life of a footballer. No one did anything wrong, it just happened, it is nothing to do with Alex, it could have happened to anyone.
“We will get the further or final information earliest tomorrow. That is the case in these situations. Absolutely too early, I have no idea (on the seriousness).”