The reigning champions missed a great chance to reinstall themselves at the Premier League summit after drawing a blank on Sunday.
Jurgen Klopp insists Champions League qualification is the “most important thing” for Liverpool ahead of a successful Premier League title defense.
Liverpool lost more ground in the title race after being held to a scoreless draw against Manchester United. It marked the fifth successive league outing that they failed to win.
With Manchester City claiming a 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday, the Reds fell to fourth place in the standings and are three points off the top of the table.
The Reds started the campaign as favorites to repeat their success after landing their first league trophy in 30 years in 2019-20 but a series of lackluster performances have raised questions marks over their title credentials this season.
Klopp’s men have already dropped more points after 18 fixtures than they did in their entire title-winning campaign and cannot afford to drop more, but the German manager says their target is to finish in a top-four spot.
“For me, it’s not important where we are in the moment – it’s important that we have points and we are around this group [top four],” the Reds boss told Sky Sports after the match at Anfield.
“For that you need points. We are in the middle of a bunch of teams which fight for this spot and that’s what we have to do. It’s not about if we don’t become champions, it’s not fun anymore. We just fight for everything and I saw that tonight again.
“The most important thing is to qualify for the Champions League and I know how difficult it is. This season it will be a tough race for the top four.”
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