Jota, Klopp hail Liverpool’s statement win as top four push gathers steam

LONDON — The goal celebrations on the sidelines and on the pitch told you how much this Liverpool side want this top four finish, and how much they believe they can do it.

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Diogo Jota jumped off the bench to score twice and reignite Liverpool’s bid to finish in the top four this season, as Jurgen Klopp saw Fabinho, Mohamed Salah and the hugely impressive Trent Alexander-Arnold star as the reigning champions dominated Arsenal from start to finish.

This win momentarily puts Liverpool just two points off the top four, and they now have momentum in the run-in.

Speaking to our partners in the UK at Sky Sports after the game, Jota did not play down the importance of this win for Liverpool’s top four hopes.

“It was very important. I think to think about higher spots in the table, we have to do our job which is to win every single one of our games until the end,” Jota said. “If we do our job we have a high chance to be there. It’s hard to win in the Premier League but today we did our job.”

Jurgen Klopp shows hunger, desire is back

During their poor run of results Liverpool have looked jaded and lacking in confidence this season, and their manager has too.

But Jurgen Klopp looked refreshed from the international break, sporting new John Lennon esque glasses on the sidelines he bellowed ‘moveeeee’ and ‘keeep goingggg’ time and time again.

He celebrated each goal wildly and loved this display from his team, as he urged them on in stoppage time to keep a clean sheet and make a statement.

When it comes to the top four, ProSoccerTalk asked Klopp if this resounding win was a statement of intent for how they will attack the all important run-in.

“It was a very important statement for us because we need to show that we will fight for it. We can’t talk about it, we need to show it on the pitch,” Klopp said. “We did that especially with the way we defended tonight. If we defend like this, we are difficult to break down. If we are difficult to break down, we have a good basis to play good football. That’s what we had tonight. That’s why it was so important.

“All the things that have happened to us in the past this season has brought us into a position where we don’t have it in our hands. We have to win our games but somebody else has to lose because we don’t play most of them anymore. We have to make pressure on them. That’s what we did tonight with the result but we are still not in. Everton can pass us. West Ham can pass us and all these kind of things so we have to fight and we will fight. That’s the statement for us and no one else.”

Liverpool have Aston Villa, Leeds, Newcastle, Man United, Southampton, West Brom, Burnley and Crystal Palace left to play and six wins from those eight will put them in a great position.

As for Jota, he gave a glimpse of the positive vibes and hunger now flowing through the playing squad.

“If we win the remaining games I’m pretty sure we will be there [top four]. We need to think about ourselves,” Jota told BBC Match of the Day.

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