Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai said there is a “long way to go” in the title race this season, and urged his teammates to focus on themselves ahead of this weekend’s clash with Manchester City.
Liverpool bounced back from a run of four successive Premier League defeats with a 2-0 win over Aston Villa last weekend, before defeating Real Madrid 1-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday evening.
Arne Slott’s side were impressive against the La Liga leaders, but they have a lot of ground to make up in the title race, with Arsenal currently seven points ahead of Liverpool and six clear of second-placed City.
“The most important thing is to continue like this,” Szoboszlai said. “There’s still a long way to go. Now it’s all about the Premier League and facing Manchester City at the weekend. We know how good they are now. We have to focus on that.”
“The season is long. If we were seven points ahead at this stage, no one would say we had already won the league. Last season when we were in front, we stayed calm and kept going because anything could happen.”
“We just need to focus on ourselves, win our games and then let’s see what the other teams do.”
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Asked what helped lift Liverpool out of their recent slump, Szoboszlai said: “I think it’s the team spirit. We’re a really close team. Everyone’s got each other’s back, and we’re there for each other. That’s been the most important thing.”
“When things are going well, everyone is happy and everything is positive, it’s easy to stick together.
“The hardest thing is to find yourself in the situation we were in a few weeks ago. But even then we stuck together and kept moving forward, believing it would turn out in our favour.”
Despite Liverpool’s struggles this season, Szoboszlai has been an outstanding player for Slot’s side, playing every minute in both the Premier League and Champions League.
Asked if he now considered himself a captain in the team, the Hungarian international added: “We have enough leaders with Virgil (Van Dijk), with Mohamed (Salah), with Robbo (Andy Robertston), with Ali (Baker). They have been here longer, some of them have been here for seven or eight years, the captain and his deputies.
“I’m just trying to do my best on the pitch. If it looks like I’m a leader, I’ll keep doing that on the pitch, not off the pitch.”
