Danny Murphy has backed Liverpool to secure a top-four Premier League finish ahead of Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham - insisting his former side's track record of consistent performances gives them the edge over their rivals.
The Reds currently sit ninth in the Premier League table having only won four of the opening twelve league fixtures and most recently played out successive defeats to Nottingham Forest and Leeds United, two teams that were both in the relegation zone when they lined up against Liverpool.
Such results, coupled with defeats at Old Trafford and the Emirates, means Jurgen Klopp’s side find themselves eight points adrift of Newcastle United - who occupy the fourth and final Champions League qualification spot - ahead of their trip to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium this weekend.
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Individual mistakes, poor form and a collective lack of confidence appear to have gripped Anfield this term and has seriously dented their hopes of qualifying for Europe’s premier competition for a seventh successive season. But they have also been struck by injuries across the park: with Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz both ruled out of action until after the World Cup.
However, former Liverpool midfielder and talkSPORT pundit, Murphy, believes his old side are well-placed to qualify for the Champions League this campaign due to their history of putting together lengthy, unbeaten runs during Klopp’s seven-year stay at Anfield.
“I still think they’ve got a chance because when you look at who they’re competing with, which is Chelsea, Tottenham and Newcastle, none of them are brilliant, none of them are consistent,” said Murphy on talkSPORT.
“You’re not watching Chelsea at the minute and thinking ‘oh they’re frightening me’ they’re all over the place, different formations, different personnel.
“[Manchester] United are steady, but they’re not going to scare you, they’re not going to go on a ten-game winning run which I think Liverpool can do.They’ve done it so many times before with the same players.”
After drawing with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in January, and flagging eleven points behind Manchester City, Liverpool went on a mammoth unbeaten run in the Premier League and claimed 50 points from the final 54 of the season.
It’s a run that saw them ultimately miss out on a second Premier League title by just one point, as Manchester City came from two goals down in the final fifteen minutes of the season to beat Aston Villa 3-2 and claim their fourth title in five years.
“Last season they finished within a point of Man City, lost a few games not many, had two great runs in terms of winning games continuously last season,” added Murphy. “It’s the same squad apart from [Sadio] Mane, that’s it.
“So why’s that squad incapable of doing the same thing? Of course it’s capable.
“You throw [Diogo] Jota back in the mix, you throw [Luis] Diaz back in the mix, you keep everyone fit, you win a couple of games, the confidence goes through you have a good run of fixtures and all of a sudden you’re on a run.”
“There’s an accumulation of things, at the beginning of the season complacency, there’s been injuries, I think there’s definitely been a hangover from missing out on the big two at the end of last season, the intensity Liverpool have played at the last few years might be catching up with a few.
“The amount of goals that are individual errors is unbelievable, you can’t coach that, it’s a confidence thing, it’s a mindset thing, you can put up any shape you want but if you’re making stupid individual errors and switching off you’re going to lose games.”
Liverpool are in Premier League action twice more before the domestic football calendar launches on six-week hiatus to accommodate the winter World Cup in Qatar. First up for Klopp’s side is a visit to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium to face Antonio Conte’s side, before rounding off the first half of the campaign at home to Southampton a week on Saturday.
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