Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted that he doesn’t believe the Reds can finish the season as Premier League champions.

Before the Arsenal fixture, the Merseyside club had picked up just ten points from seven matches, having already fallen thirteen adrift of Manchester City at the top of the table. When asked for his thoughts on whether a title challenge was still possible, Klopp replied:

“From this point, does it look like we will be champions at the end of the year? Unfortunately not. Yes, this is a difficult time. Did I think we’d be ninth after match day seven? No. But this is the place where we are now and we must go from here. If there is one club that has a chance to go through it, then it’s us. In all other competitions, we are not out yet. Nobody knows where we end up in the league, so just give it a go. That’s it. Difficult yes, impossible no. So let’s go from here.”

A lot rides on the result against the Gunners on Sunday evening. A defeat would certainly be very hard to recover from, while even a draw would still put them so far adrift of City that you couldn’t see Liverpool making up the gap.

There have been various reasons for the Reds’ poor start to the campaign but the inability to keep clean sheets has been one of the major problems.

Stretching back to the end of last season, Klopp’s team have conceded the first goal in 12 of their last 15 matches.