Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk insists there is not yet any concern about becoming detached from the top of the table.
A dramatic late defeat to Manchester City — their eighth of the Premier League campaign — left Arne Slot’s side five points adrift of fourth-placed Manchester United and four behind Chelsea in fifth, which increasingly looks like being the minimum requirement for Champions League qualification.
With both of their rivals playing on Tuesday the gap could be even greater before Liverpool walk out at Sunderland, who held them to a 1-1 draw at Anfield in early December and are only three points further back in ninth.
Although Arne Slot’s side are still in Europe’s elite-level competition, having booked their place in the last 16, they will need a good league finish as a fallback option.
Asked when the gap to the top five became a concern, Van Dijk said: “When it’s the deciding time of the year.
“Every game that’s coming our way we have to make sure that we are getting towards that top four to five.
“But we need better performances and finding ways to win. That’s something that we can focus on and that we have to keep our focus on as well.”
Another failure to hold on to a lead, on this occasion with just six minutes remaining, was compounded by conceding a late penalty scored by Erling Haaland meaning Liverpool have dropped eight points from goals in added time.
It has been a problem all season and while Van Dijk accepted improvements still have to be made, he denied there was a common theme opponents had identified as a weak spot.
“I think you can’t compare all of the goals,” he added.
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“Maybe you can compare the Palace goal and the Bournemouth goal but this one you can’t compare with the others. But the fact is we conceded late on and I keep saying it but we have to do better in this.
“It’s easy now to maybe say that we dropped off too much and that’s why they scored the equaliser.
“You also have to remember that you’re playing against City, who are obviously very comfortable on the ball and, at times, I think making the right decisions could have been better.”