Premier League 2018-19 : Liverpool

Jürgen Klopp has spent big to address the weaknesses exposed in the Champions League final and the squad looks well equipped to challenge Manchester City for the title.

Jürgen Klopp did not rise to José Mourinho’s assertion that there is “a demand” on Liverpool to challenge for the title for two reasons. One is that he finds Mourinho’s age-old attempts at mind games amusing and an established part of the Premier League show. The other is that he fully accepts the demand to furnish his Anfield reign with silverware this season. Having invested over £170m in a squad that reached the Champions League final three months ago, Klopp cannot and does not shy from an expectation he has created.

“It is the next step,” the Liverpool manager admitted, before his Manchester United rival spoke of Klopp’s U-turn on heavy spending and the pressure to deliver Anfield’s first league title since 1990. Klopp is more equivocal on what might constitute “the next step”. More points, more outstanding performances and an improvement on last season’s fourth-placed finish would all represent evidence of sustained progress, he has explained. But the Liverpool manager knows his third full season will be measured by trophies and providing the strongest challenge to Manchester City’s title defence. “I am really looking forward to the season,” he said. The enthusiasm is shared by all at Anfield.

A formidable obstacle stands in the way of Liverpool and that elusive 19th league championship. It is the team they have beaten three times in competitive fixtures this calendar year: Pep Guardiola’s champions. City’s hopes of an unbeaten league campaign and first Champions League triumph were both shattered by Liverpool last season, the latter courtesy of a 5-1 aggregate defeat in the quarter-finals, yet they finished 25 points clear of Klopp’s side, winning the title by a record 19-point margin and becoming the first team in English top-flight history to reach 100 points.

How they finished in the past five seasons

A dramatic regression on the champions’ part and progression on Liverpool’s is required to stop City becoming the first club to retain the Premier League title since United in 2008-09. It is testament to Klopp’s rebuilding work since October 2015, last season’s exhilarating run to the Champions League final and a productive summer in the transfer market that his squad appear supremely well-equipped to honour their side of the deal.

No Premier League club has spent more in the close season than Liverpool who, with the £75m acquisition of Virgil van Dijk in January, have invested £250m in Klopp’s squad in 2018. They also sold Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona in January for a fee that could rise to £142m. Record investment levels bring no guarantee of success but the areas strengthened, combined with the club’s recent track record on transfers under Klopp, the sporting director, Michael Edwards, and the scouts Barry Hunter and Dave Fallows, fuel already lofty ambitions.

In signing Naby Keïta, Fabinho, Xherdan Shaqiri and Alisson the Liverpool manager has addressed longstanding concerns about his squad’s ability to make that next step. Those concerns – goalkeeper, midfield and strength in depth – were all exposed on the unforgiving stage of the Champions League final in Kiev.