Trent Alexander-Arnold says Liverpool showed they are a ‘force to be reckoned with’ in winning week

After beating Burnley at home and winning at Bayern Munich in the Champions League, Liverpool returned to the top of the Premier League by beating Fulham

Trent Alexander-Arnold believes that Liverpool’s ability to emerge from a gruelling week with three wins out of three demonstrates that they are “a force to be reckoned with”, as they chase their first league title since 1990. After beating Burnley at home and winning at Bayern Munich in the Champions League, Liverpool returned to the top of the Premier League by beating Fulham 2-1 at Craven Cottage on Sunday.

James Milner’s late penalty sealed the points after Ryan Babel’s 74th-minute equaliser threatened to hold Liverpool to a debilitating draw. And though most would have expected Liverpool to triumph against one of the division’s worst sides, it was the manner of the victory – grinding out the win amid the pressure of knowing that their title challenge was on the line – that Alexander-Arnold found most pleasing of all.

“These are the ones that go unnoticed during the season,” the England right-back said. “But they’re vitally important for us. I think we’ll probably look back at the end of the season and think, whatever the outcome may be, that this game was important for us.

“The full week was tough. The goals we’ve conceded at home to Burnley [in a 4-2 win], it was tough going to Bayern, and then conceding a late equaliser here was tough. Mentally we’ve been put through a lot of tests this week. Maybe a few years ago we might only have won one of those games. Maybe a few years ago we wouldn’t have got the three points after conceding. But we’ve showed how good a team we’re becoming. We’re a force to be reckoned with.”

If Liverpool have occasionally been guilty of a certain brittleness in the past, Alexander-Arnold said that this was a changed side under the management of Jurgen Klopp. “It all comes from the manager,” he said. “Everything we do comes from the manager. We try and go out there and play in the way he wants us to play, do the things that he wants us to do. So it’s important for us to think the way he wants us to think as well.”

He insisted that despite the closeness of the title race, there would be no sly sideways looks cast at Manchester City. “I’m not even sure when their game in hand is,” he admitted. “Or what the situation with the table is. It’s important for us to just focus on ourselves. It’s a bit cliched, but that’s the main thing. Just try and be the best that we can be. And hopefully at the end of the season, we’ll come away with some silverware.”

This is the first time since 2009 that Liverpool have gone into the spring with genuine chances in both the Premier League and the Champions League. It’s their first real tilt at the title since Brendan Rodgers’s side fell short five years ago, and for all the tension and tightness to come, Alexander-Arnold maintained that it was still important to enjoy the experience.

“It’s nice to be involved in a title race,” he said. “You don’t get to say that many times in your career. Obviously, I was a fan during the 2013-14 season, when we came so close. It’s massive. It’s about trying to embrace it, soak it all up. It’s important for us to come back fit from the internationals, and then put our all into the final games.”