Jurgen Klopp said he expects Liverpool to be back fighting for the Premier League title next season as the Reds continue their late push for a top-four place with a visit to struggling Leicester City on Monday.
A campaign filled with inconsistent performances and results had left Liverpool in mid-table by February, and at the start of April Klopp's side were still well off the pace in eighth.
However, a run of six straight wins has seen Liverpool surge to fifth and a win over Leicester at the King Power Stadium will move them to within one point of Manchester United in the last of the Champions League places, albeit having played one game more than their fierce rivals with just two matches remaining.
The renewed consistency has given Liverpool plenty of cause for optimism, but still, there was a 20-point gap between them and leaders Manchester City heading into the weekend.
It has been more common for the two clubs to push each other all the way to the final day of the season, Liverpool twice coming second to City by just a point, and despite their recent troubles Klopp expects normal service to resume when the new campaign kicks off in August.
“There are two games a season, maybe with cups three, four or five, when you play City, Arsenal and the others,” he said ahead of the trip to Leicester.
“There are five million ways to win a football game, you only have to find one. A successful season is you are ready for all the games, that you can win 25-odd games.
“If City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle, Tottenham, Man United are all involved in that 25 then it is even better. But it is about can we create a team who can win the majority of the games? Yes, we can. It was never about what the other teams do.
“We didn’t become champions by a point twice and there will be some people who say it was because we didn’t have this player in that moment.
“Getting 90-odd points is absolutely insane, pretty special, and no one should take these things for granted.
“The top seven get even closer together, it will be more difficult and more competitive. It doesn’t make it easier but everyone with a good idea has a chance to be part of it. If you are part of the battle up there then you can win it as well.”
Liverpool’s current six-match winning run, their best sequence for more than a year, has given a glimpse of the level the side used to play at, and Klopp believes will do so again.
“I never questioned these boys. Never. Mentality-wise these boys are exceptional but we still couldn’t deliver for long periods of the season consistently good, successful football," he said. “For everyone it is a relief to go again, to be winning again in a convincing way and not (having to) scrap three points.
“We have a clear idea of what we want to do and I saw so many good things we could build on. I’m absolutely fine with the reaction now but we all think it was a bit too long until we showed it.
“All we can do is go for the last three games and make the best of what we have so far.”
