Newcastle vs Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp refuses to bemoan fine margins in thrilling title race

We have reached that time of the season where all the hard work of the previous nine months can be made or finished in a single 90 minutes, and so it is now for Liverpool

At the start of this season, if you had offered Jurgen Klopp 91 points and just one Premier League defeat after 36 games, he would have been hard pressed not to snap your hands off.

Rightly so, too, because Liverpool have shown fantastic consistency from August right up until now and they have not dropped a single point to a team lower than 11th.

With such an impressive tally, in virtually any other season, Klopp’s team would have won or be on the verge of a deserved league title.

Not this time, and not with Pep Guardiola around. Instead of a healthy lead, Liverpool trail his Manchester City side by a single point with two matches remaining.

We have reached that time of the season where all the hard work of the previous nine months can be made or finished in a single 90 minutes, and so it is now for Liverpool.

Their task in the Champions League has been made incredibly difficult by the magnificence of Lionel Messi and his late goals in Wednesday’s 3-0 first leg semi-final defeat, and sandwiched in between the two games with Barcelona comes a defining league match.

Win at Newcastle tonight and Liverpool will regain a two-point lead at the top of the table ahead of City’s game with Leicester on Monday. It would also guarantee that they take the fight to the final day of the season.

Fail to win and it will be advantage City. That is how tight the margins are. Liverpool could reach 97 points and still not be Champions. But the one thing you will not find is Klopp bemoaning his luck.

“I’m healthy, my family is healthy and I do the job I love,” he states. “That already makes me a very fortunate person.

“I don’t think somebody has to win more than others. I try everything I can.

“If it happens, it happens, if not, then not. I am not ready to let these things take me down. I was never like this.

“If you ask me 30 years ago, before I became a manager, I had defeats in my life which I really felt were the biggest in my life. But I still carried on. For me, that’s what it is about.

“Try everything you can. Take and get what you can and if not, try again if you are ready for it. And I am ready for it. I don’t feel cursed.”

For the trip to Newcastle, Liverpool will be without Naby Keita after he tore a muscle in his groin during the defeat to Barcelona, meaning an immediate recall for captain Jordan Henderson.

It was a surprise to see him only on the bench at the Nou Camp after his dynamic recent performances, but his manager explained why.

Liverpool will be without Naby Keita after he tore a muscle in his groin during the defeat to Barcelona (Getty Images)

“Hendo played five games in a row, the only one in the midfield who did that,” says Klopp. “Three days in six days were coming and it is clear Hendo cannot play these three games – so you tell me which is the most important one?

“I make decisions for good reasons – my reasons obviously. Sometimes people understand them, and sometimes not.

“But I expect situations like this. There will be reactions, but not from the players I hope.”