LONDON, Dec 3 — Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain says the Premier League leaders are going into every game believing they can win after racking up 13 victories in 14 games.
Jurgen Klopp’s unbeaten side have dropped just two points this season and established an eight-point advantage over second-placed Leicester.
But even the pressure of maintaining their winning run, which appears to grow with every game for a club searching for their first league title since 1990, has not affected the mentality within the club, according to Oxlade-Chamberlain.
“I’m going into it (a game) with the mindset that we’re going to win. I think that’s how we all feel,” the England international told the PA news agency.
“We’re going into the games expecting ourselves to win and anything else we’re disappointed with.”
He added: “I think that’s the mentality you need to be successful, to have those high standards that nothing else is acceptable. Then you’ve got to let history take its course.”
Liverpool are firm favourites to end their title drought but midfielder Oxlade-Chamberlain said they needed to remain mentally strong.
“You’ve got to just keep going out and churning out results,” he said. “There might be a time where results don’t go so well and people maybe close the gap a little bit.
“We’ve got to be also ready for those moments mentally as a team to just keep going and see what happens.”
Liverpool’s next match is the Merseyside derby at home to struggling Everton tomorrow, with the Reds unbeaten against their local rivals at Anfield since 1999.
But Klopp’s side have not kept a clean sheet at home all season and are without suspended first-choice goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
“I don’t think we’re leaking loads of goals but probably just a few little silly mistakes here and there all over the pitch,” said Oxlade-Chamberlain.
“But even when we have been conceding, we’re still finding a way to come up with the goods and most of the time at the minute it’s been winning the game.” — AFP
