Klopp stays grounded after Man United rout

Liverpool have regained some consistency in the Premier League in recent games but the squad cannot take that confidence for granted in their quest for a top-four spot, manager Jurgen Klopp said yesterday.
Liverpool reignited their top-four hopes with a 7-0 thrashing of old rivals Manchester United last week, moving up to fifth place to sit three points behind Tottenham Hotspur above them. The Merseyside club also have a game in hand and they next play away today at bottom side Bournemouth – who were thrashed 9-0 at Anfield earlier this season.
“There’s no better mood booster than a good game for us, you see it in training. We had consistency in the league in the last five games, but confidence is a fragile little flower and we have to make sure we keep that,” Klopp told reporters.
“There’s a general feeling that we have to chase and we have to challenge everybody, but that’s only a little side story. The main thing is going to Bournemouth and playing a game there and not counting the points before you have them.”
Klopp said the south-coast club can cause teams problems with the way they play after nearly coming away from league leaders Arsenal with a point in a 3-2 defeat. “The way Bournemouth play, they can be really uncomfortable for each team,” he said. “Everybody saw against Arsenal in the last game, how much they had to fight and stretch their luck.”
While Liverpool can provisionally move up to fourth on goal difference if they win, a victory for Bournemouth would lift their hopes of survival with the bottom nine teams separated by just six points. “We might fight for the Champions League spots – we will see how the results will be in the next few weeks – but the fight to stay in the league is as exciting. Bournemouth will fight like crazy,” Klopp added. “We want to go into the top four clear, but it’s about being fully focused on Bournemouth.”
Klopp said Luis Diaz, Thiago Alcantara and Joe Gomez will not be available for the trip as they continue to recover from injuries, with the German expecting to have them back after the international break this month. “None of them have trained yet with the team. In the next couple of weeks we will know more,” he said.

Conte vows he would ‘die’ for Spurs as pressure mounts
Tottenham manager Antonio Conte said he would “die for this club” until the end of the season but admitted the contract he signed at the start of his tenure was strange. Poor recent results and the looming end of the Italian’s contract have led to mounting speculation that he will soon leave the club. But Conte urged “time and patience” on the eve of his team’s match against Nottingham Forest.
“If you ask me now am I ready now to die for this club? Yes,” he said. “Until the end I am ready to die for this club. But I am not so stupid to kill myself.”
Spurs, beaten in the FA Cup last week and dumped out of the Champions League by AC Milan on Wednesday, are still in the hunt for a top-four finish in the Premier League. The former Juventus, Chelsea and Inter Milan boss said it was unusual to sign such a short contract when he joined in November 2021.
Conte also played down the extent of any rift with Richarlison, who complained in an interview this week over his lack of playing time. The Spurs boss revealed the Brazil forward, who joined from Everton last year, had apologised for the incident. “He started well with us, he then had an injury and went to the World Cup and had another injury, serious. He came back and stayed one month out. He scored zero goals with us (in the Premier League), only two goals in the Champions League and the guy was really honest to say his season was not good.”

Fixtures (all times GMT)
Today: Bournemouth v Liverpool (1230), Everton v Brentford, Leeds v Brighton, Leicester v Chelsea, Tottenham v Nottingham Forest (all 1500), Crystal Palace v Manchester City (1730)
Tomorrow: Fulham v Arsenal, Manchester United v Southampton, West Ham v Aston Villa (all 1400), Newcastle v Wolves (1630)