The mind games have begun already ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Elland Road to play Leeds United on Monday, with Jurgen Klopp stoking the fires.
The German manager will be away that every single point counts from this moment on, given that the Reds are still some way off qualifying for European football next season.
It’s a humbling come down for the Anfield-based outfit who were Kings of Europe and the Premier League just a couple of seasons ago.
Against Leeds they’ll need to be back to their best because, a 5-1 defeat at home to Crystal Palace notwithstanding, the Elland Road based outfit need the points as much as, if not more than their opponents.
Klopp, however, says that Leeds ‘owe’ Liverpool the points after their incredible showing at Anfield earlier in the 2022/23 campaign, when they left with an unexpected win.
“They owe us three points,” he said at his pre-match press conference.
“[…] The situation Leeds is in, the last game of course as well which these kind of games can happen, they try everything. I actually think they’re in a pretty good moment, but in that game they got a proper knock, that’s clear because Magic Roy is back.
“[…] So we expect (Leeds) to absolutely be on their toes, massive fight, proper atmosphere, so it will be a tough one.”
What’s clear is that both teams can’t afford to give anything other than 100 percent for the entire 90+ minutes.
Liverpool are still susceptible to teams getting at them from the off, as we saw again against Arsenal in their last outing.
However, we also saw their resilience and desire to get back into the game against one of the league’s form teams, and that’s what Leeds need to guard against.
It’s a cliche to say that every game is a ‘cup final’ for either team now, but it’s a saying that does hold true in this instance.