Liverpool Must Keep 'Finding a Way' to Win, Says Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp has highlighted the importance of Liverpool "finding a way" to win ahead of their Anfield clash with Leicester City in the Premier League on Wednesday.
The fixture has been granted even greater significance after Manchester City's defeat to Newcastle United on Tuesday, as the Reds can open up a seven-point lead at the top of the table with a win.
Liverpool's last three fixtures in the league have not been their easiest. They lost against City before scraping single-goal victories against Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace.
Those type of narrow wins, though, are the results that can win championships, and Klopp advocated the need to continue to produce such performances in the remainder of the season, per James Carroll on Liverpool's official website:
"One of the main reasons the win against Crystal Palace was so pleasing—aside from the valuable three points we got—was how the team dealt with adversity and the character they showed. We found a way to win.
"[Palace] came to Liverpool and played outstandingly well, and we were tested to the maximum. But we overcame all the problems and found a way to win—and we won still playing some excellent football and creating lots of chances in addition to the four we converted.
"It's this mindset of 'finding a way' that will be critical for us between now and the end of the season. We did not need the battling performances away at Brighton and at home to Palace to teach us this.
"We are all fully aware that every team who faces us comes with the highest motivation to beat us. But people should not underestimate our motivation as well. This group of players have shown—right throughout the squad—that they can and will go deep into the well of desire, courage and belief to find that way. It is not possible to have the points we do at this stage if we did not possess these qualities.
"However, as I have said repeatedly over the season, this has to come with the preface of 'so far.' We have done this 'so far,' and we must keep doing it. We must keep going back to the well—we must keep finding a way."
After City's shock defeat to Newcastle, the 2018-19 Premier League title is now undoubtedly Liverpool's to lose. The Reds can take confidence from the fact that their recent home record in the league is phenomenal:
Leicester have also lost their last two matches in the English top flight, to Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton. But Claude Puel's side know how to pull off a giant-killing: Two of their last last three victories in the Premier League have been against Manchester City and Chelsea.
In Jamie Vardy, they also have a forward who loves playing against Liverpool.
The Englishman has seven goals and an assist in eight career matches against the Reds, and Klopp is wary of the threat he poses, per the Press Association (h/t MailOnline):
"[Vardy's] a massive threat and he always was, but a few times we made it pretty easy for him. Lucas Leiva, did he get an assist? I could have scored that goal (when Lucas passed to Vardy eight yards out in front of an empty net).
"I don't exactly know why Jamie has such a good record against us but I would say minus one goal because that was the only one he shouldn't have scored. A very good player and that's why he's such a threat."
Liverpool have 15 games remaining in their 2018-19 Premier League campaign. They still have to travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United and Goodison Park to take on Everton, while they will also host Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea at Anfield in the run-in.
While fixtures like the trip to Old Trafford on Feb. 24 will be picked out as defining moments, it could be the matches against the likes of Leicester that decide whether Liverpool win their first league title since 1990.
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