ReactionTrent Alexander-Arnold on 'huge' Fulham win, free-kick technique, Premier League title race and more
Trent Alexander-Arnold says Liverpool will ‘throw the kitchen sink’ at their remaining Premier League matches after keeping their title hopes alive with a 3-1 win over Fulham on Sunday.
The Reds’ vice-captain was on target in a vital victory at Craven Cottage, where second-half strikes from Ryan Gravenberch and Diogo Jota secured three precious points for Jürgen Klopp’s side.
The result keeps Liverpool in the hunt for the title, level on points with league leaders Arsenal and one clear of Manchester City, who have a game in hand.
And with five fixtures still to play, Alexander-Arnold says the target is clear: win all five and see what happens.
“[Today] was huge, obviously,” he told Sky Sports post-match. “At this point in the season, [if] you don’t get the results that you want then you’re out of the title race.
“It was a very important game for us, obviously [after] seeing Arsenal get their result last night. It was a big one and now we have five finals, just throw the kitchen sink at it and try to get over the line.”
He continued: “I think at this point of the season, the likelihood in our minds is that [Manchester City] won’t drop points. That comes from previous seasons that we’ve had against them.
“But we need to be in a position. Last week, we kicked ourselves because results went our way and we were not able to capitalise on it.
“It was disappointing last week so we need to make sure it doesn’t happen, and if something does happen, [City] drop points, Arsenal drop points, then we are in a better position.
“From now on it’s five wins from five, and that’s the only thing we can expect and that’s all we can aim for.”
Read on for more from Liverpool’s No.66…
On the importance of Jota’s third goal…
Of course, we go 1-0 up and they get a goal just before half-time which kind of dampens our mood and changes the game plan. I think if we go in 1-0 at half-time we have a different mentality coming out to protect it [in the] second half. I think we came out, we played the way we wanted to, kept on the front foot, kept them in their half. We scored the second, an excellent finish from Ryan, and then Jota does what he does best, which is score. He’s a fantastic finisher and he put the game to bed for us.
On his determination to take the free-kick that led to Liverpool’s first goal, having seen Harvey Elliott miss an earlier one…
At that point, there was no question that the second one was going to be mine! But we did our analysis yesterday and we saw that the wall likes to jump. It just didn’t jump as much as we planned that it would. Harvey had the right idea, he just couldn’t execute it. Mine was a little bit further out and I was able to execute what I wanted to do.
On his own free-kick…
The technique that I use, it generates the power itself so it’s just about getting it over where I need to, and the power will take care of itself. I try not to hit it too hard, just kind of guide it and the power will take it into the corner. Hit the target and make it hard for the goalkeeper. You train as much as possible for moments like that. You get one chance in a game to execute it and you just try to do your best for the team. It’s just practice, practice, practice, as much as you can and it pays off on days like today.
On his central positioning during the game…
The more and more I’m playing in the middle of the pitch, the more pressure and the more tight and compact I find it. So I think the manager has told me and the team to drop out of the block, try to get on the ball and get up the field that way, whether it’s driving with the ball or passing it over the top. It’s just trying to get on the ball as much as possible and trying to make things happen from deep and create.
On his ‘free role’ from full-back…
There has to be discipline in there, and it’s not just me who has the freedom to go in there and do that. The rest of the team have to move around, adjust and make sure we are in a good position to go and win the ball back and make sure we are still protected and not exposed if we lose the ball. But within that there is then freedom and space to get on the ball, make things happen and get us up the pitch essentially. At this point of the season, we have nothing to lose as a team. We need to try to get goals as well, we need to chase goal difference. We scored three goals today, which is a positive. It’s a big week now for us to go and push on, and we’ve built a good foundation after a tough week.
On when he will start thinking about Wednesday’s Merseyside derby against Everton at Goodison Park…
Already, to be honest! It’s exciting. When it comes to derbies, football kind of goes out the window, and it’s about who wants to win it more. They’ll be looking to put an end to our title race and any chance of winning the title this year, and we’ll be looking to put them in a sticky situation as well. It’s going to come down to who wants it more. They’ve got a good result today, we’ve got a good result. It’s two teams that are in decent form, so I’m sure it’ll be a very, very good game.