Jürgen Klopp said Liverpool will not take for granted breaking Manchester City’s record points tally despite edging closer to the historic target with victory at Brighton.
The Premier League champions require nine points from their remaining four games to surpass City’s record of 100 points after two goals from Mohamed Salah helped Liverpool to victory on the south coast. Jordan Henderson was also on the scoresheet but will have a scan on Thursday to determine the extent of a knee injury he sustained in the second half. “I know it will not be nothing,” said Klopp. “We have to wait.”
The victory was Liverpool’s 30th in 34 league matches this season. No team in English top-flight history has reached that total in as few games. Klopp, however, insists there are no guarantees that the champions will take another record from City before the campaign is over. “When I think about the next four opponents I can’t think we will have another 12 points,” the Liverpool manager said. “Burnley are a results machine, I have so much admiration for them, then we play Arsenal in a really good moment and Chelsea in a really good moment.
“How can I expect we get all these points? When I think of 92 points I think how did we get 97 last season when we always had the Champions League in the middle?
“You need luck of course, and we had that at Newcastle with [Divock] Origi’s late goal, but you have to fight a lot. That is the mother and father of each win – that you have to work hard for it.”
Salah’s double took him to 19 league goals for the season – 23 in total – and to within three of Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy in the race for the Golden Boot. Klopp, who has now seen Salah, Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino score a combined 250 goals during his Liverpool reign, admitted: “He’s a striker; how can it not be a motivation? He has won it for the last two years, sharing it with Sadio and Pierre [Aubameyang] last year.
“It is important but in the end you score when you perform and he did that. 250 goals is exceptional by the way. Imagine where I would be without those 250 goals!”
