Sunday 14 May 2017 17:54, UK
Jurgen Klopp is taking nothing for granted after Liverpool's 4-0 victory over West Ham left them on the brink of securing Champions League football for next season.
Liverpool ran out comfortable winners at the London Stadium on Sunday and know victory at home to Middlesbrough in their final game next Sunday will guarantee a top-four finish.
Manchester City could yet leapfrog Liverpool into third if they win or draw their game in hand against West Brom on Tuesday, while Arsenal realistically need a victory over Sunderland on the same night to take their slim hopes of securing a Champions League spot to the last day.
But even with Liverpool in pole position, Klopp does not want his side's intensity to drop when they welcome already-relegated Boro next weekend.
"We play Middlesbrough and it will be difficult. They have nothing to lose while we have everything to win," Klopp told Sky Sports after the match.
"I said in the dressing room immediately after, that we've known for weeks that we will have to go until the end, so that's no problem for us.
"We want to do this, we want to be successful. If we win, we deserve to be in the Champions League, if not, then we don't deserve it. That's pretty easy.
"I thought we found a really good mood for this game, and if we can do it in a similar way in the next game then that's good. But counting points before you have them is really silly, so we will not do this. We prepare ourselves and try to do our best."
It turned out to be an emphatic victory at West Ham, who just one week before had beaten London rivals Tottenham to all-but end the club's hopes of catching leaders Chelsea.
Daniel Sturridge opened the scoring in his first league start since January, while Philippe Coutinho fired in a quick double before Divock Origi added a fourth.
And with Klopp opting to switch to a 4-4-2 diamond formation, the German said he was delighted to welcome Sturridge into the starting XI, which also saw Coutinho play in a deeper role.
"It's a cool thing having Daniel in this shape. We had two options because we could have played Adam [Lallana] at eight instead of Phil, but we wanted to create more space for Coutinho to play more passes and be more influential.
"You need to get used to things. It's not about a system, it's about how the players use it. We defended well so that was really good.
"Each player in the world, even a world-class player like Daniel, needs training. I cannot change this, it's not about me, we all have to use our body.
"It's nice that we can bring him into these games. His smartness was fantastic, and hopefully we can go through this week without injuries."
