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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp expects his players to focus fully on struggling Fulham despite a top-of-the-table fixture against Tottenham on the horizon.
The Reds face a Cottagers team that has scored just seven points from 11 games this season with just two wins in its last 10 games in all competitions.
José Mourinho’s high-flying Tottenham’s visit to Anfield on Wednesday is a much more tantalizing prospect, but Klopp insists they will continue to defend their title one match at a time.
“I hope none of our players think of Tottenham when we are in Fulham, to be honest,” he said.
“The situation is as if you are on top of the table, practically everywhere on the table, there is not much distance between them.”
“We know and I don’t have to constantly tell guys.
“Fulham is a team that plays football very well and the performances they showed were not all rewarded with results.”
“The fight to stay in the league is also very close, so every point helps and they go for everything.
“If we let them play, they will play and the more we let them play, the more we have to defend and the more you have to defend, the more you have to run.”
Having fled with a first league title in 30 years last season, beating back-to-back champion Manchester City by 18 points, the scenario is unlikely to repeat itself this time.
Seven points separate the top 10 heading into the final round of matches, and with the challenges he’s presented this compressed season, Klopp isn’t expecting such a comfortable moment.
“I’m not the most experienced guy who can tell you what it’s like when you have a big gap between you and other teams, but last year, for whatever reason, it was like that.”
“Before a game, it’s exactly the same as always, you want to win this game because it’s not like, ‘oh, there’s a 20 point gap between us and them, so we could play 60% or 70%’ – no it is so.
“We felt pressured by ourselves last year and that’s the same now, it didn’t change. You don’t look at other teams, it’s too early in the season.”
“You just create a foundation for the rest of the year and that’s what we’re still on.
“Whatever the situation is outside of us, we cannot change, so we are not concentrating on it, so we try to win the next game and that is quite difficult.”
With qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League secured, tied for points at the top of the table after 11 games, and an injured list showing signs of relief, there is a positive atmosphere at the club.
There is a cloud on the horizon and that is the current uncertainty about the contract of midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum.
The Dutch international’s current contract expires in the summer, which means that he is free to negotiate with clubs in continental Europe from January 1.
Wijnaldum is set to return to Craven Cottage’s side after having rested from the Champions League match against Midtjylland in the middle of the week and Klopp has no problems with the midfielder playing the vast majority of minutes for him.
“The character of Gini Wijnaldum has never been in doubt,” he said.
“He has been here for a long time and has played in most of the games. He has helped us a lot in all the things that we have achieved since he was here too. A first-rate player and character.
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