Klopp is confident his Reds can close this gap to seal a Champions League position for a seventh successive season.
Jurgen Klopp is convinced his Liverpool side still have a chance to secure a Champions League spot this season, adding that they are still within “punching distance” from the top four.
The Merseyside club return to Premier League action against Aston Villa on Boxing Day and sit in the sixth spot, seven points behind the top four following a below-par start to the 2022-23 campaign.
“We’re really looking forward to what’s coming now,” said Klopp as the Mirror quoted. “We know it’s intense and that there are no guarantees. We know that all the others feel the same and that Arsenal are buzzing to go again.
“Man City, we saw on Thursday night, they have expectations and ambitions. That’s how it is.
"We’ve obviously left a gap between us and much-more exciting spots in the table, but we consider ourselves for the moment in punching distance and that means we have to chase, and that’s what we will do.”
Klopp also spoke about how beneficial the World Cup has been for Liverpool after several of his players got minutes and performed well in Qatar.
“All the players back from the World Cup really look on it, so that’s very important,” he said. “Some of them have regained confidence, although it was probably not that low, but a good World Cup, like for Hendo, was helpful.
“We have players who have rhythm, Hendo has rhythm, training, games. Ali [Alisson] also has rhythm, all the others had a break.
“Fabinho and Trent had minutes there and trained, I cannot see that Trent and Fabinho have lost a lot of confidence because they didn’t play many minutes.
“We footballers are used to dealing with setbacks and missing targets. That happens every year pretty much. We don’t carry that with us for too long.”