Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has warned his players they must be ready for a fight when they take on struggling Leeds United at Anfield on Wednesday night.
Klopp’s side head into the fixture – rearranged after Leeds asked for the Boxing Day clash to be postponed due to a Covid outbreak – six points behind leaders
Manchester City after the weekend results, albeit with this their game in hand on the champions.
However, despite Leeds languishing down in 15th place, five points above the relegation zone after Sunday’s 4-2 home loss to rivals Manchester United, the German has predicted a battle against Marcelo Bielsa’s team.
“Leeds man-mark all over the pitch so if you are not in the game then Leeds will eat you,” said Klopp in his pre-match press conference.
“They are leading in three decisive running Premier League stats. You have to be ready for these runs and they never give up on top of that. Some spectacular results in both directions.
“Leeds fight to stay in this league and they really never give up, so we have to make sure we cannot help tomorrow. We have a lot of work to do.
“I hope that we, as a unit with our supporters, are difficult to beat. If we are, we have a chance to win. We need to make sure we are really on it to give everything. If we’re not ready for a fight, we will suffer.”
As for the title race, Klopp revealed he found out about City’s 3-2 home defeat to Tottenham on his way home from Anfield after his side’s 3-1 win over Norwich City on Saturday night.
“The truth, I was on my way home at 2-1 Spurs then I arrived at home and didn’t follow it,” he said.
“I was sure City would equalise. We went out and the driver was very excited, 2-2 then 3-2, he told me Spurs had won. ‘Oh!’ was my reaction. Nothing has changed, really. We need to win.”
And while Klopp wants to take it each game at a time, meaning he has not thought about Sunday’s Carabao Cup final with Chelsea at Wembley, one fixture he has highlighted is Liverpool’s trip to the Etihad on April 9.
“I didn’t think about Sunday’s team,” said Klopp. “One thing I’ve learned is it doesn’t work for me to have two or three games in my mind. We try everything for this game. We didn’t make Norwich changes for Leeds or the final, we needed to rest some. Exactly how we do it now.
“We expect that (City will win their games). We play them once, that’s one we definitely want to win. This game [Leeds], nothing has changed. We cannot win everything in just one game, we just try to win a very difficult Premier League game. We saw all the faces of Leeds on Sunday.”
Wednesday night’s contest with Leeds does come too soon, though, for strikers Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino, who both remain sidelined after picking up ankle and muscle issues respectively in Liverpool’s 2-0 Champions League win at Inter Milan last week.
“No chance for tomorrow, Sunday we will see,” Klopp confirmed. “It will be easier for me to say no now but they are pushing. Not on the pitch for training which is not a good sign. We’ll make a decision in the week.”
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