Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk insists “nothing is decided yet” in the Premier League title race despite his team moving 13 points clear with a 2-0 win over Newcastle United.
Goals from Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister helped Liverpool ease past Eddie Howe’s side at Anfield on Wednesday night, with second-place Arsenal drawing away to Nottingham Forest. It was a fifth game in the space of 15 days for Arne Slot’s side who are now unbeaten in 24 matches in league.
“I think it was a good performance; offensively, defensively,” Van Dijk said after the game. “What I enjoyed the most, and what I like to see, was the last 20 minutes and how we controlled the game in possession and let them run.
“I think we did that well. It is the most difficult thing to keep running behind the ball and trying to win the ball but if you have the ball then you can create the open space and more chances and I think we did that in a good way.”
There was a celebratory atmosphere at Anfield as news of Arsenal’s result filtered through, with supporters inside the stadium singing: “We’re Gonna Win The League.” However, Van Dijk is confident that he and his teammates won’t be distracted by the outside noise as they bid to secure a record-equalling 20th league title this term.
“They can sing whatever they want,” he said. “We have to deal with that. It was a good atmosphere today like always and we have to make sure that definitely the rest of the games here will be an amazing atmosphere and we have to keep going.
“We definitely enjoy the atmosphere. There is no ‘almost there.’ There are 10 more games to go for us and nothing is decided yet. Until it gets decided we don’t get carried away whatsoever.”
“I’m going to be the boring guy in that sense because I’m going to say ‘Onto the next, keep calm,'” he added.
“You have to enjoy winning games but not for too long as you play almost every three days. Now we have a little gap. That’s the only thing we have to do, prepare for the next.
“It was an intense 15 days with a lot of intense games and I think we came out of it pretty well and we have put ourselves in a very good position but it doesn’t mean that anything is done, I keep reminding players and also to the outside world that there is no time and space for complacency.
“The message today was we had to show what we are all about because after a very good win against Man City and then drop points or have a bad performance then the performance against City doesn’t stand for anything.
“I think we showed a very good reaction, a great game offensively, defensively and a clean sheet again. I think we have also the most clean sheets in this season and that’s all down to the hard work of the team and we have to keep that going and see what that brings.”
