Jurgen Klopp said Liverpool’s ability to grind out wins when not at their best has been a hallmark of the champions this season after Sadio...
Jurgen Klopp said Liverpool’s ability to grind out wins when not at their best has been a hallmark of the champions this season after Sadio Mane and Curtis Jones struck in the final 20 minutes to beat struggling Aston Villa 2-0 on Sunday.
After a 4-0 humbling at the hands of Manchester City in their first match as Premier League champions on Thursday, Klopp’s men again failed to hit the heights that made them runaway leaders before a three-month hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But Mane’s sweet strike off the underside of the bar and Jones’s deflected effort kept up a run of 24 consecutive league wins at Anfield for the Reds and left Villa still languishing in the bottom three.
“We are where we are because we win difficult games,” said Klopp. “Today Aston Villa was fighting with all they had and it makes life uncomfortable. It was not a brilliant performance but it was a good performance that gets us three points.”
Klopp has insisted he will not dish out appearances “like Christmas presents” in the final month of the campaign as his side eye a record points tally in English top-flight history.
Liverpool moved onto 89 points with a further 15 still up for grabs to...
