Liverpool head coach Jurgen Klopp has said his side will need to be “close to perfection” in order to win a second straight Premier League title.
Klopp’s side ran away with the title last term, clinching the club’s first Premier League crown by an 18-point margin over Manchester City.
The race for the title is set to be much closer this season with Liverpool currently in fourth place, four points back of table-topping Leicester City having played one game fewer.
With several teams looking to be genuine title contenders Klopp knows that his side, currently on a four-match winless run in the Premier League, can’t afford many more slip-ups.
Asked what it would take to win the title, Klopp replied: “Close to perfection, but perfection depends on the situation.
“There is no perfect season with 114 points, there is just dealing with circumstances and the situation and the amount of games. We have to be as perfect as possible and that is what we try.”
Leicester took the lead in the Premier League after defeating Chelsea on Tuesday, but Manchester United could regain the lead by beating Fulham on Wednesday. Klopp said that the back-and-forth nature of the race this term means every team must always be on their toes.
“It changes all the time and that’s because it is so close, we know that for a few weeks,” Klopp said. “That makes it a slightly different title race or race in general this year and we have to be ready, 100 per cent.
“I know in this business only results count but before you have a result you need performances and the last performance was really good.”
Klopp said he wasn’t getting too carried away with his side’s form, insisting he saw some positive signs in Liverpool’s 0-0 draw against Man Utd on Sunday.
“It is not a catastrophe, it is not perfect, but that is not important,” he said. “Be as good as you can be. I saw a lot of good signs in the Man Utd game and if we had won that game everyone would have seen them, but because we didn’t win no one was interested. That doesn’t change my view.”