Jurgen Klopp has conceded that Liverpool aren't yet safe in the Champions League places ahead of their final few matches of his stewardship - and with Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur left to play in their remaining fixtures, he has warned that they must still collect points despite the recent damaging defeats to Crystal Palace and Everton likely curtailing their title hopes.
Klopp is taking his leave from Anfield after almost nine years in charge - during that time the club have won the Premier League, the Champions League, the FA Cup and the League Cup twice among other pieces of silverware. Liverpool were fighting on four fronts this term, but they have recently been knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester United and of the Europa League by Atalanta.
That left the race for the title, in which the Reds are competing with Arsenal and Manchester City, but their recent losses at the hands of Palace and, on Wednesday night, Merseyside rivals Everton, mean that they sit on 74 points - three behind Arsenal, and just one ahead of City, who have two matches in hand on their rivals. Behind the top three sit Villa, who are seeking to bat away the pursuit of Spurs in these remaining games as they look to secure top four.
READ: Simon Jordan disagrees with Villa argument and makes Newcastle comparison
READ: Wes Edens breaks silence on Aston Villa 'record' and 'amazing' duo driving revival
Klopp, though, has warned his players against a late season slump which would not only cost them the league title but a place in next season's Champions League, with decisive games against Villa and Spurs still to come in the run-in. Their next game comes at West Ham, who also have European ambitions, on Saturday.
"What we need now is better football from our side and bad football from two other sides," Klopp told the BBC. "That's how it is now. They need to lose games, probably one, maybe two. Historically, they don't do that a lot, really. Arsenal didn't look really weak on Monday night [when beating Chelsea 5-0]. We have to play better, that's how it is.
"Let's see what we can do. We are not safe in the Champions League. Tottenham has an awful lot of games less, and we play them in ten days or so. Firstly we have to recover mentally and physically and then we go again Saturday 12:30 - that's a really tricky turnaround, we know that, but we have to make sure we're ready for that."
Can Villa catch Liverpool to nick third? Tell us in the comments here
Join our new Aston Villa WhatsApp community
BirminghamLive has launched its very own WhatsApp community to give you the opportunity to receive the latest Aston Villa news straight to your messages.
We will be sending the latest breaking news and top Villa stories directly to the WhatsApp community and we want you to be part of it. Users who want to join our community must have WhatsApp downloaded on their phone.
All you have to do to join is click on this link, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you joined the previous WhatsApp Community, make to sure to sign-up to our new one as they previous page experienced a technical error.
If for some reason you decide you no longer want to be in our community, you can leave by clicking on the name at the top of your screen and clicking 'Exit Group'.
You can read our Privacy Notice here.
