Liverpool loss ´massive blow´ to Champions League hopes, admits Klopp

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insisted the Premier League loss to Chelsea is a “massive blow” to the club’s top-four hopes.

Thursday saw Liverpool’s season crash to a new low, the struggling defending champions beaten 1-0 by resurgent visitors Chelsea at Anfield.

Having previously gone three-and-a-half years without a Premier League defeat on home soil, Liverpool have now lost their last five home outings – the longest run in the club’s history.

Liverpool, who are first reigning English top-flight champions to lose five home league games in a row, are languishing in seventh position – four points adrift in the race for Champions League qualification and 22 points behind runaway leaders Manchester City.

5 – Liverpool have lost five consecutive home games (league and all comps) for the first time in their history, while they’re also the first reigning English top-flight champion to lose five home league games in a row. Nosedive. pic.twitter.com/Rg25S3pmC0

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 4, 2021

“It is a massive blow,” German boss Klopp told Sky Sports.

“It is not done yet, but we don’t have to talk about if you lose that many games, you don’t have the right to go to the Champions League.

“We have to win football games and we know that and we will work on it, but for tonight, it was not enough.”

Liverpool have earned just 10 points from 11 Premier League matches in 2021 – only West Brom (nine), Newcastle United (seven) and Southampton (four) picking up fewer.

Star Liverpool full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold added: “Tough to take. These are the games that we need to win, especially with our aims and targets for the season. I’d say pushing for the top four, it’s massively important that we won today.

“But there’s nothing we can do about it now, except learn from it and pull out what we could have done better and go again. We’re on a quick turnaround to put things right on Sunday.”