Jurgen Klopp backed Liverpool to handle the pressure of their huge lead as they took another huge step towards their first league title for 30 years by winning 4-0 at Leicester.
Roberto Firmino struck twice while substitute James Milner scored a penalty and the outstanding Trent Alexander-Arnold was also on target as Leicester had no answer to Liverpool’s dominance.
The Reds are now 13 points clear of second-placed Leicester, although Manchester City can go second – albeit with an 11-point gap – if they win at Wolves on Friday. Liverpool’s win was particularly impressive as it came only five days after they beat Flamengo to win the Club World Cup in Qatar.
Klopp said: ‘The only thing that changes is the number. It was 10 points, now it is 13. We don’t feel it, we don’t think about it, we didn’t mention it once before the game because it’s just not interesting.
‘We know the story – that never before in the history of British football has a team had a bigger lead and lost the lead. But that sounds in my ear negative so why should we think about something like that?
‘We are just focused on the next games. We have Wolves, Sheffield United, Everton, Tottenham and Manchester United in the next five games so it doesn’t sound like anything is decided. The number [of points] is absolutely not relevant.
‘We played an exceptional game against Man City. We played a super game against Arsenal. We’ve had a few good games this season. This was exactly the performance we needed. A little bit less good and we would have had problems. But we had no real problems because the boys were 100 per cent in the game.’
