Jurgen Klopp has rubbished talk that his Liverpool side are the only contenders to Manchester City for the Premier League title this season.
Their 4-0 shellacking of West Ham over the opening weekend did little to quell that kind of talk.
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With Liverpool spending more than any other Premier League club this summer to bring in Alisson, Fabinho, Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri, pundits have predicted they are the only team who will seriously challenge Pep Guardiola‘s City for the PL crown.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Klopp dismissed talk of Liverpool being City’s main rivals for the title.
“I couldn’t be less interested in what other people say of us. We said it before the game again, what people say is sometimes nice, sometimes not so nice, but it is always not important,” Klopp said. “What is important is that we know what we want to be, and we want to be a challenger. How can we be something different? We didn’t win anything in the last few years, that’s the truth. And the other teams, I can’t see that they’ve got weaker. So why should we [be the only challengers] because we made a few signings?
“It’s only an English thing, where you can win the league in the transfer window. It’s not possible. It’s not interesting. We did our business, other teams did theirs last year, two years ago, whatever. We did it this year because we felt it was the right moment to do so, that’s all! We enjoy our role, and all the rest is not important to us.”
Does Klopp have a point?
He is likely trying to crank down the expectation levels a few notches at Anfield, as Liverpool battered West Ham and the usual suspects ripped it up with Mohamed Salah scoring, Sadio Mane grabbing two, Roberto Firmino lively and the defensive unit looking solid with Virgil Van Dijk and Alisson marshalling things.
New signing Naby Keita also impressed in midfield, while Daniel Sturridge and Xherdan Shaqiri also give Liverpool plenty of options in attack. That is why Liverpool are the favorites to usurp City this season.
Klopp is correct to show the likes of Tottenham, Manchester United, Chelsea, and even Arsenal respect, but there’s no denying that Liverpool is better equipped than any other team in the PL this season to stop City winning back-to-back titles.
