Klopp: Nothing Left to Do “Except Plan the Party for Afterwards”

Playing Manchester City is always a big game in Liverpool’s season because of where the teams usually end up on the table. This time, though, the match comes with extra significance.

This game is seen as a fight for both teams to keep their title hopes alive, and with Chelsea maintaining their perfect form now for 12 games in a row, it’s hard to argue with that. Antonio Conte’s men are six points ahead of Liverpool and seven points ahead of Manchester City on the table at the moment. If either team wants to stay in it, they need to keep picking up points and hope for Chelsea to eventually fall out of their magnificent form some time soon.

It’s no secret to Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp that Liverpool will be seeing out 2016 by playing one of their most important matches of the year — and certainly the most important of this season so far.

As he prepares to face his old Bundesliga adversary, Pep Guardiola, Klopp is confident that his squad are ready to take on the significant challenge posed by City.

“I know people are excited when they think about this game,” he said. “There is nothing to do except prepare the party for afterwards. This is a game everyone has to watch.

“The good news is we are involved. It’s not City v someone else, it’s Liverpool v Man City.

“We are always some kind of a challenger. We don’t care about being favourite, it feels like we are challenging in each game and now we have to prove it. We have to make the people happy again. It’s possible.”

It’s fair to say that Klopp has gone a long way towards making the fans feel happy this year already, but one more victory to end it on certainly wouldn’t hurt.