Klopp: ‘We don’t think about the gap, not for a second’
Cape Town – Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says he team is "hungry" as they prepare to face title rivals Manchester City in a crunch clash at the Etihad on Thursday night.
The Merseysiders continued their unbeaten run in the Premier League on Saturday evening, recording a convincing 5-1 win over Arsenal at Anfield, and now hold a seven-point lead over the Citizens.
But Klopp insists his side is not thinking about their lead at the top of the table, as they look to get a positive result on City's home soil.
"We are hungry," Klopp told the clubs website. "We don't think about the gap, not for a second. What we think about is 54 points – unbelievable, to be honest. That's really strange and feels strange.
"All we can do is keep going; recover first of all, that's very important, and then prepare the next game.
"We all know, wow, Man City are a fantastic football team and an away game at City – who can go there and think 'Probably we will win'? No team in the world, not even us.
"So, we have to go there and try everything to get a result. That's what we will try."
Meanwhile, Liverpool summer signing Xherdan Shaqiri insists the Reds are merely looking to claim all three points on Thursday, saying it is too early to talk about ending the title race.
"If you are top of the table, everybody is coming after you and everybody wants to beat you," he said. "They're going to come after us and will try to win, to grab three points.
"We don't go there to take Man City out of the race, we go there for a game," Shaqiri continued. "Everything can happen this season but it's a long way to go."