Virgil van Dijk believes Liverpool could still overhaul Arsenal to win the Premier League, despite being 15 points behind the runaway leaders.
Liverpool are sixth in the Premier League going into their next match against Brentford on Monday. Jurgen Klopp’s side have picked up just 28 points from their opening 16 matches and are way behind the Gunners, who have lost only once all season.
That chasm does not phase Van Dijk, however. He has been fired up by Netherlands’ quarter-final penalties defeat by Argentina at the World Cup and reckons the unique nature of this season - which was sliced in half to accommodate the winter tournament in Qatar - could play into Liverpool’s hands.
“It also motivated me here,” he said of Netherlands’ loss to Argentina ahead of the Brentford match. “We are quite some points behind Arsenal but the season could be a very crazy one, a very strange one.
“But we have to be realistic and we're not thinking about the title at the moment. We have to focus on the game ahead of us, win games and then we'll see. I am always motivated, I always want to win and I give everything each and every game.”
Liverpool finished as runners-up behind Manchester City last season and began this campaign with two wins from their first eight Premier League matches. But Klopp’s team have shown signs of turning the corner, winning their last four in succession, against Tottenham, Southampton, Aston Villa and Leicester.
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Victory over Brentford in west London on Monday night would bring Liverpool to within one point of the top four. It won’t be an easy task, with the Bees picking up an impressive 2-0 win away at West Ham on Friday to make it five games unbeaten in the league.
“Hopefully [we can keep it going]. It's difficult to say that but we have won against Leicester and, like I say, we've had four wins in a row,” Van Dijk added. “We want to keep winning but we also have to improve our game and we know that we can, especially after Leicester.
“It is going to be a very tough one in London waiting for us. Obviously, last year [a 3-3 draw at Brentford] was tough and I saw they won away at West Ham too.
“They will be full of confidence and we have to be confident as well with our team and the players we have. We can hurt them in different ways but we have to be prepared.”
Liverpool come into the match on the back of their 2-1 win over Leicester on Friday. Klopp’s team needed two own-goals from Wout Faes to get them over the line after Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall gave the Foxes the lead.
After their trip to Brentford, Liverpool will turn their attention to the third round of the FA Cup, where they face Wolves on Saturday.
