Klopp singles out Chelsea as Premier League favourites
The Reds boss believes the Blues have a strong squad and are playing good football, making them strong contenders for the title this year
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes Chelsea are the current favourites to win the Premier League this season.
The Blues are first in the English top-flight after they beat Leeds 3-1 on Saturday and have a one-point lead over reigning champions Liverpool and Tottenham, who play on Sunday.
Klopp believes the London side are the biggest threat to his side’s title defence but was quick to stress the Reds remain focused on themselves.
“If I watch games then I see that Tottenham are obviously doing pretty well, that Chelsea for me in the moment look like the favourites,” he told reporters.
“They have the bigger squad, great players, they’re playing well. Now they are full on and have unbelievable opportunities to change [the team] between the games and from one game to the other. That’s it.
“Pressure is there but it’s about yourself. The pressure is there to win the game and we want to win against Wolves [on Sunday]. We play only Wolves this weekend and nobody else, so all the others can play against each other or not and then they will collect points.
“It’s always like this. It’s much too early to think about who is ahead of who or whatever. It’s just the situation.
“I said it before, this season is not about setting a target and going for it, it’s about getting through it with the best possible football you can play – and that’s what we try to do.
“That differs from weekend to midweek sometimes because of some circumstances, but it’s still the target for us all the time. Be fully focused on the next game, the next opponent, especially not that early about other results.”
Diogo Jota has been in incredible form since joining the Reds from Wolves in September, scoring nine times in 15 appearances for the Anfield outfit.
Klopp has been impressed by the 24-year-old’s form and is happy with the way he has blended with fellow stars Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.
“He’s doing exceptionally well at the moment, absolutely,” he said. “But to keep that standard we have to work really hard, we have to keep him in a good shape, score goals because the other boys do that usually. That’s clear.
“For us, the most important thing was that we don’t have to bite our nails pretty much in each game and hope they somehow come through and we can bring them in the next game again – especially not in this season.
“That’s not a real lateral situation because it’s only one player and, how I said, it’s the only line – the front three line – where we have more players than we can line up in one game, I would say.
“All other positions are pretty much, who can walk will play or will be a kid. Both is fine. But there’s nothing bad in that situation. Who they are, they wouldn’t be where they are if they couldn’t deal with a situation like that.
“They are completely fine with Diogo and Diogo is fine with them. They are overly happy that he had that brilliant start, as I am obviously. But now that’s already gone and we have to carry on.”
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