Virgil van Dijk is determined that Liverpool bounce back against Chelsea tomorrow and confirm a place in next season’s Champions League.
The Merseysiders go into the weekend with a six-point advantage over sixth-placed Bournemouth and a superior goal difference following last Sunday’s 3-2 defeat at Manchester United. A win over the struggling Londoners ought to be enough, although Aston Villa’s qualification for the Europa League final has also opened the possibility of sixth-place being sufficient to secure a seat at Europe’s top table.
Van Dijk told the club’s matchday programme: “We know we still have a job to do to secure Champions League qualification for next season, and we want to do that as soon as possible. We have three games left to play, and we want to win them all, starting on Saturday.
“Chelsea, like ourselves, have found it difficult at times this season, but we know that they possess a lot of talent in their squad.
“They will be motivated after a disappointing result of their own last weekend, and we know we will need to be at our best if we want to get the three points.
“Like I say, that is our target, nothing more. This has been a very disappointing season – an unacceptable one, in my opinion – but we cannot feel sorry for ourselves. That is not what Liverpool is about.
“We are all frustrated of course, but we want to try to finish on a positive note, secure that Champions League spot and give you guys at least something to take away from a tough campaign.”
Chelsea will be targeting sixth place and hoping that is enough to salvage something from a campaign that started brightly but has tailed off alarmingly.
The Blues head to Anfield in ninth place and with interim boss Calum McFarlane insisting his players are eager to finish the season strongly.
He said: ”We want to turn it around. We know the standards this club has set, we aren’t meeting them at the moment. The only thing we can control is how we behave and act every single day and how we work to turn that level of performance around.”
The Chelsea fans turned on the players during Monday’s 3-1 home defeat to Nottingham Forest and McFarlane accepts the performance was not good enough.
“I completely understand the feeling. We are as disappointed and frustrated as they are,” he added. “I put it down to possibly not responding well enough to the early set-backs that we had. We need to do much better in those moments because it has happened before and it is something we will address and try and improve for the upcoming games.”
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Team news for Liverpool v Chelsea
Alisson could return in goal for Liverpool but Mohamed Salah is still out, as are Hugo Ekitiké, Wataru Endō, Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni. Alexander Isak missed the game at Old Trafford and his availability is uncertain.
Reece James and Levi Colwill are both in contention to start but Jesse Derry and Robert Sanchez, who both suffered head injuries against Forest, miss out. Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho are major doubts.
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