Said Liverpool Will Not Overtake City Easily In The Premier League Champion Hunt, Jurgen Klopp: The Distance Is Too Far

JAKARTA - Jurgen Klopp considers Liverpool's chances of overtaking Manchester City in the race for the title are still tough, even though they have just closed the gap after beating Crystal Palace 3-1 in the English Premier League at Selhurst Park, London, last Sunday night.

The victory, which was confirmed by Fabinho's penalty to quell the wave of revival for the hosts throughout the second half, left Liverpool now only nine points behind City at the top, with one game to spare.

"No," Klopp told the BBC after the game when asked if Liverpool were back in the title race.

"The distance is too far to talk about and we don't have to. We just need to win the game. Every game in the Premier League is always tough, as we saw today," he added.

After appearing so dominant in the first half-hour and comfortably taking the lead through goals from Virgil van Dijk and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Liverpool struggled to stem the tide of Palace's revival.

The hosts hit back early in the second half through Odsonne Edouard's goal, before Fabinho calmed down with a controversial penalty.

Diogo Jota failed to fully control Trent Alexander-Arnold's long ball and the ball rolled off the pitch after he crashed into goalkeeper Vicente Guaita.

Klopp said he was relieved his team was able to bring home the first three points from this trip to London this season, after being matched by Brentford, Tottenham Hotspur, and Chelsea and being beaten by West Ham United.

"It was quite the opposite performance. You can see how well we can play like in the first 35 minutes," he said.

"We won the hard way, but (most importantly) we got it," Klopp concluded.

The Premier League will enter the international break next week and Liverpool will host Leicester City again at Anfield on February 10, four days after facing second-tier Cardiff City in the FA Cup fourth round.