Jürgen Klopp On Liverpool Title Chances and Needing City to Drop Points

Following an injury to Fabinho suffered against Aston Villa last week, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp saw two more of his stars pick up knocks as he was forced to remove both Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk before the final whistle against Chelsea.

While the latter two were revealed to be largely precautionary and Fabinho remains hopeful of being fit for the Champions League final, the expectation is none will be available Tuesday against Southampton and Klopp may have some difficult choices to make.

“We only played the 120 minutes two days ago so when the boys arrive today I have to make a lot of decisions,” the manager noted at his pre-match press conference. “Then we will line up a team. What I can promise and definitely say is we will try to win the game.

“As difficult as it is that obviously is the job to do and we have to see who is able to help. The 30 extra minutes made a big difference, but we have to see. If we can go into the last matchday one point behind [Manchester City] that is the perfect scenario.”

After Liverpool dropped points at Tottenham on May 7th, the 2021-22 Premier League title race appeared all but over, but City’s draw with West Ham over the weekend while Liverpool were focused on their FA Cup final victory over Chelsea revived their chances.

For the Reds it remains a long shot. They would need to win tomorrow’s game against Southampton then beat Wolves on the final day while City would need to drop points for the second game in a row—this time against Aston Villa—but it’s a chance.

“Is it a big chance?” Klopp added. “I wouldn’t say so because I don’t know the last time City dropped points two games in a row historically. City is a pretty good football team so I don’t expect City to drop points but it makes no difference to us tomorrow.”