Jurgen Klopp responds to Pep Guardiola’s Liverpool jibe and apologises to Tottenham

Jurgen Klopp has played down Pep Guardiola’s comments about Liverpool and feels they were said in the heat of the moment – something he was also guilty of when he took a swipe at Tottenham’s approach.

Manchester City retook control of the Premier League title race over the weekend, capitalising on Liverpool’s draw with Spurs by winning 5-0 against Newcastle United and significantly boosting their goal difference advantage in the process.

After the match, Guardiola aimed an unprompted jibe at his title rivals, saying ‘everyone in this country supports Liverpool, the media and everyone’ and then brought up the fact they have only won one Premier League title in the last three decades.

Klopp took his own swipe at Tottenham after the north Londoners’ resilient rearguard earned them a draw at Anfield and the German coach says managers often get carried away in the aftermath of a result.

Asked what he made of Guardiola’s comments, Klopp replied at his pre-match press conference on Monday ahead of facing Aston Villa: ‘I live in Liverpool so yes, here, a lot of people want us to win the league, that’s true!

‘But even here it’s probably only 50 per cent, because the other guys [Everton] were involved in another fight, at least until yesterday.

‘Look, as managers – and I had this experience only recently after a game – we are all obviously, how can I say this, we are massively influenced by the game, by the situation and stuff like this.

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‘So I said – and would I say it again? No – but I said