Jurgen Klopp has urged his Liverpool players not to dwell on Thursday night's shock 3-0 UEFA Europa League quarter-final first leg defeat by Atalanta, but to turn their attention sharply back to their Premier League title challenge.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Man City
MCI
|
38 | +62 | 91 |
| 2 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
38 | +62 | 89 |
| 3 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
38 | +45 | 82 |
Speaking after the Reds' proud 33-match unbeaten run at Anfield was ended in sensational fashion by the Serie A side, Klopp expects a positive response when Liverpool host Crystal Palace on Sunday.
"We haven't had that that often so we have to show a reaction immediately on Sunday," he told TNT Sports.
"In this moment it must feel bad. The lads must go home and sleep badly. But we must prepare for Crystal Palace.
"A lot of performances tonight were really 'oops, wow, I didn't know they could play like that.' A lot of the players looked really alone in a lot of moments. It was really bad. We had our biggest chances in the end and didn't use them.
"I know the boys can play better football but they didn't do it tonight and we have to show a reaction on Sunday. I'm pretty sure they will do that."
Liverpool beaten by Atalanta in Europa League quarter-final first leg at Anfield
Skipper Virgil van Dijk added that the Atalanta defeat "hurt", but is confident that Liverpool could yet add both the Premier League title and Europa League to their Carabao Cup success this season.
"A very disappointing night for all of us but we can't dwell on it for too long," said Van Dijk. "We need everyone to look forward to another big game. We have to switch back onto getting results.
"It hurts of course. We haven't lost here [Anfield] for a long time. But we shouldn't take the credit away from them. They punished us for being sloppy in possession. We still had chances to score one or two and unfortunately we didn't.
'We must bounce back'
"If you don't believe, there's no point going to Italy. We have made it very hard for ourselves going there 3-0 down. But the way to bounce back is by winning the game on the weekend. We need everyone to switch it back on. Then we can focus on putting out at least four goals over there."
Thursday night also saw the long-awaited return from injury of Diogo Jota and Trent Alexander-Arnold, with the former playing the last 14 minutes of the match.
Their availability is a timely boost for Liverpool in the run-in. The match on Sunday offers Klopp's side an opportunity to extend their unbeaten Premier League run against Palace to 13 matches (W11 D2) since a 2-1 home loss in April 2017.
Liverpool are also unbeaten in their last 28 home Premier League matches, winning 22 times and drawing the other six.