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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Matt Verri

Jurgen Klopp hails Liverpool’s resilience after nervy win over Nottingham Forest

Jurgen Klopp was relieved to see his Liverpool side respond to setbacks in their eventful win over Nottingham Forest.

After a goalless first-half at Anfield, Diogo Jota scored a brace either side of a goal from Neco Williams, the former Liverpool defender, before Morgan Gibbs-White equalised to get the visitors level once again.

But Forest could not hold on for what would have been a crucial point in their bid for Premier League survival, as Mohamed Salah found the back of the net with 20 minutes remaining and Liverpool held on for a 3-2 victory.

It has been a largely painful season for the Reds, who sit seventh in the table, but Klopp was impressed with the resilience his side showed on both occasions they were pegged back.

“Finally we reacted in the right way, that’s important,” Klopp told BBC Sport.

“I would like to say we did that the whole season - that’s not true. We’ve dealt with blows in a game not always in a perfect way.

“Today it was good. Body language I liked, players stayed on track. We didn’t need a long time to react, the goals came pretty quick after we conceded. That’s helpful.”

Liverpool are six points off the Champions League places, having played a game more than Newcastle in fourth, and it looks likely they will absent from Europe’s top table next season for the first time since 2016.

Klopp insisted he is not giving any thought to making a late charge towards fourth, with Liverpool having to rely on so many other results going their way.

“Top four at the moment, we have nothing to do,” Klopp said.

“For us, the three options is no European football, Conference League or Europa League. That’s the two things we can fight. The rest we have no influence. If the teams above us win everything, then we just watch.”

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