Bruno Fernandes urged his Manchester United teammates to 'do their job' against Bournemouth and the Reds are now within touching distance of securing a top-four place after heeding his message.
United took a huge step towards qualification for next season's Champions League with a hard-fought 1-0 win at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, with Casemiro's brilliantly-improvised overhead kick enough to hand the Reds a first away win since mid-April.
Erik ten Hag's side were within minutes of having a top-four place confirmed, with Liverpool behind at home to Aston Villa until Roberto Firmino levelled the scoreline in the 89th minute - a gap that was set to be four points is now three.
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Regardless of Liverpool's late equaliser, United are edging ever closer to achieving their main objective of the season, and have two home games against Chelsea and Fulham to pick up the point they need. One of football's oldest cliches is for teams to focus only on themselves, but in this case it runs true.
Fernandes admitted as much before Saturday's trip to Bournemouth, with Liverpool sewing together seven straight wins to close the gap and cause concern around Old Trafford.
"I'm not worried about Liverpool, I'm worried about us doing our job," he said. "It is about ourselves and like I said if we do our job properly, if we win our games we will be in the Champions League so we don’t need to look at the table or look at other teams."
Liverpool's form going into the weekend was a concern, with Klopp's men looking likely to win both of their final games. Two points dropped by them on Saturday opens up a gap, but it does not lessen the importance of United focusing on their own results.
Bournemouth away was arguably the hardest of their last three fixtures, given United's unreliable away form, but focusing on their own performance warranted a vital three points.
Ten Hag's side are unbeaten at home in the league since the opening day defeat by Brighton and have won all of their last 13, with two opponents who have nothing to play for in Chelsea and Fulham presenting a brilliant opportunity for Champions League football to be secured, no matter how Liverpool finish the campaign.
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