Dejan Lovren claims Liverpool are ‘smarter’ after experience of previous title fights
The centre-back kept his place in the team for the win over Tottenham
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Your support makes all the difference.Dejan Lovren says Liverpool are learning lessons from previous campaigns where they have gone close to winning the Premier League, but insists the club must take it one game at a time.
The Reds sit six points clear at the top of the table after a 2-1 comeback win over Tottenham Hostpur, ensuring their unbeaten start to the season continued despite Spurs taking the lead after less than a minute.
A World Cup finalist in 2018, the Croatian has played in three of Liverpool’s last four games, having previously been on the sidelines behind Joel Matip, who is now injured.
Last season, of course, Liverpool missed out by just a single point to Manchester City, while captain Jordan Henderson was also part of the squad which finished second to City in 2014 under Brendan Rodgers. Lovren acknowledges that experiences from prior attempts have had a positive impact on the squad as they bid to end the Reds’ long wait for a league title.
“Let’s say that every season we are smarter and smarter,” he told LiverpoolFC.com after Sunday’s game.
“Definitely we’ve learned from all the years before and what kind of pressure we can play. We are used to it. We did it last year.
“We know what we need to do, but, like I said, let’s not talk six or seven months up front. Let’s go game by game. This is key.”
Against Spurs, Liverpool had to come from behind after an early Heung-min Son strike, which deflected off Lovren and onto the woodwork, was headed home by Harry Kane for a first-minute opener.
Henderson equalised in the second half before Mohamed Salah scored the match-winning penalty, with the Reds backed by a raucous Anfield crowd. Lovren praised both his skipper and the fans, and noted the mentality of the team was critical in winning the points, as will be the case going forward into a busy run of games.
“We knew it would be a tough game, even though they didn’t have brilliant results in the last couple of games.
“We knew it would be tough and unfortunately they scored in the first minute, but we kept our nerve, played our game and we had many chances.
“Overall, we’re quite happy. Let’s just now recover well, sleep well and eat well because we have a game every three days. So, just be calm with our heads and everything will be OK.”
Liverpool face Arsenal in the League Cup on Wednesday, before further games against Aston Villa, Genk and Manchester City in the space of eight days.
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