‘Fatigued’ Liverpool lose further ground
LONDON • Defender Andy Robertson has conceded that Premier League champions Liverpool are not in the title frame following their damaging 1-0 home defeat by Brighton on Wednesday.
Having gone 68 top-flight games without losing at Anfield, the Reds have now lost twice here in the space of a fortnight, this time to Steven Alzate’s first league goal.
Jurgen Klopp’s side failed to score for the third successive home league game for the first time since 1984 and managed only one effort on target, as they fell seven points behind leaders Manchester City (47), who still have a game in hand.
Fourth-place Liverpool host Pep Guardiola’s men on Sunday and a loss could all but see the end of their title hopes in early February.
A 10-point gap that could potentially rise to 13 would be a tall order to close, even with more than three months of the term to go.
The Reds’ goal-less run at Anfield stands at 348 minutes and against a City side who have conceded only four times in their past 20 games, that is a bad omen.
Robertson admitted his teammates would have to dig deep to rediscover their spark ahead of their clash with Guardiola’s side.
“Any game against Manchester City is a big one,” said the defender. “As this moment stands, we’re not in the title race. We are seven points behind them and they have a game in hand.
“I’m sure they’d say the same if they were potentially 10 points behind. We need to get back to the Liverpool everyone knows. We’re still a good team. We don’t turn into a bad team overnight.”
Liverpool have been hit by injuries to key players such as Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip – all long-term absentees and are unlikely to have a part to play this season.
Naby Keita and Diogo Jota have also been on the sidelines for months and will not be available for City.
Sadio Mane and Fabinho have missed Liverpool’s past two and three games respectively through injury, while goalkeeper Alisson Becker skipped the Brighton match because of illness.
This was the sixth time this season Klopp’s men have been without eight first-team players for a fixture, and only Alisson, Mane and Fabinho have a chance of returning against City.
The hosts appeared to have rediscovered their spark with consecutive away wins last week over Tottenham and West Ham but were easily stifled by an impressive Brighton side, who claimed their first league win at Anfield since 1982.
Admitting their injury crisis had gotten to his side, Liverpool boss Klopp said: “The only explanation now is that we are a fatigued team, mentally more or less.
“We had our moments but they deserved to win. We had to defend with a lot of running, there is no formation in the world where you are always in the right place.
“The best way to defend against a team like that is to keep the ball yourself but we couldn’t do it tonight. It has been a tough week and tonight, it was not enough.”
Deadline-day signing Ben Davies was left as an unused substitute here, while Schalke loanee Ozan Kabak was not part of the squad.
Klopp is unlikely to give either player their debut against a City side who have won their past 14 matches in all competitions but given their dearth of options at the back, the German said he had work to do on the training pitch in the next few days.
“City are flying and we have to find solutions,” he added.
REUTERS