Dejan Lovren: Liverpool have ‘winning mentality and calmness’ to see off Manchester City and Tottenham

Lovren scored the opener in Liverpool's 4-0 thrashing of Newcastle to move six points clear at the top of the Premier League

Liverpool centre-back Dejan Lovren claimed that Jurgen Klopp’s side have the “winning mentality and calmness” to hold of their Premier League competitors, having taken a six-point lead in the title race.

Lovren scored Liverpool’s opener in their 4-0 thrashing of Newcastle on Boxing Day with a brilliant half-volley, while Manchester City suffered a second successive defeat, leaving the Reds with daylight at the top of the table.

Liverpool now face Arsenal on Saturday, followed by City next Thursday, in what could become a crucial week in their title pursuit, but Lovren insisted that the team are only focusing on one game at a time.

“We play every game like a final,” Lovren told liverpoolfc.com.

“It’s what we learned in previous seasons: it doesn’t mean anything if you win and then the next game you don’t do well.

“So, we’ll forget this game and next concentrate on Arsenal. That’s what keeps us going.

“We have big character in the squad. If you want to be at the top, you need to have the winning mentality and the calmness.

“There are two tough games now: Arsenal and Man City. We need to keep this momentum.”

Lovren celebrates after scoring the opener against Newcastle (Action Images via Reuters)

Jurgen Klopp also sought to suppress expectations after City’s surprise slip, but did admit that he was impressed with his team’s performance against Rafael Benitez’s rugged side.

“A pretty perfect day for us; not a perfect performance, but a really good performance. Result-wise and a lot of parts of the performance, really good,” Klopp said.

“If you are 2-0 up then you have to control the game. In the past we became, I wouldn’t say sloppy, but we lost concentration. That doesn’t help, obviously.

“Now we are much more awake, we control it in a better way, we switch sides, we still prepare and create – not as many as maybe would be possible but still enough – and we score goals.”