Jurgen Klopp dismisses Pep Guardiola claim that everyone wants Reds to win title

Jurgen Klopp dismissed Pep Guardiola’s assertion everyone wants Liverpool to win the Premier League and believes his Manchester City counterpart’s comments stemmed from the emotion of a tight title race – something the German admits has happened to him.

After Sunday’s 5-0 demolition of Newcastle which moved the defending champions three points clear of Liverpool at the top of the table, Guardiola said “Everyone in this country supports Liverpool, the media and everyone.

“Of course because Liverpool has an incredible history in European competition – not in the Premier League, because they have won one in 30 years – but it is not a problem at all.”

It seemed an odd outburst from the City boss, whose side’s position was strengthened by results at the weekend which saw Liverpool drop points in a 1-1 draw at home to Tottenham.

However, Klopp said it was a mistake all managers made at some point, and he had done exactly the same on Saturday after making comments about Antonio Conte’s style at Spurs.

“I live in Liverpool so, yes, here a lot of people want us to win the league – that’s true – but even here only it’s probably only 50 per cent because the other people (Everton) were involved in another fight (relegation),” said the Liverpool boss on Guardiola’s comments.

“I have no idea if the whole country is supporting us, I don’t know that.

“It is not the feeling I get when we go to other places and play there, it is actually the opposite, but maybe he knows more about that than me.”

He added: “I had this experience recently; after a game we are obviously massively influenced by the game, by the situation.

“I said after the (Spurs) game ‘They play like they play and are still only fifth’. would I say it again? No. It felt good