Premier League leaders Liverpool are determined not to let complacency creep into the hunt for their first domestic league title in 30 years, midfielder Adam Lallana has said. The Merseyside club are on 55 points with 19 games left to play, 13 points clear of second-placed Leicester City and 14 ahead of defending champions Manchester City, who have both played a game more.
Liverpool became only the third team to go unbeaten in 50 consecutive home games in the English top flight when they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 on Sunday and Lallana said it would be more of the same in 2020.
“We want to maintain that form going into the New Year and keep Anfield a fortress,” Lallana told the club’s website. “We can’t take our foot off the gas.”
Most pundits already regard Liverpool as champions-in-waiting, while Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero said this week it would be too hard to claw back the deficit.
But Lallana says the team are not looking too far ahead and are fully focused on Thursday’s league match against Sheffield United and Sunday’s FA Cup tie against Everton.
“We’ve got a couple of huge games at home in the next week – Sheffield United, who have had a fantastic season, and then the derby in the Cup,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“We’ve got a couple of huge games at home in the next week – Sheffield United, who have had a fantastic season, and then the derby in the Cup,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri missed the Wolves game with a hamstring problem and manager Juergen Klopp said the Swiss international could be out for about 10 days.
“Shaqiri should have started but ... he felt a little bit the hamstring,” Klopp said. “Now he’s out, not for long but maybe a week or 10 days.”