LONDON – Liverpool’s title challenge may have imploded but manager Jurgen Klopp hopes they can get back to playing their best football with the pressure off and Champions League qualification assured for next season.

Fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, who are on a three-game losing streak, visit Anfield on May 5.

And with Spurs’ 2-0 defeat at Chelsea on May 2, the Reds were guaranteed a top-four finish in the English Premier League.

That was a small consolation for Klopp after a run of one win in their last five games dropped them from first to third in the table behind Arsenal and Manchester City, and essentially shredded their hopes of winning the title in his final season with the club.

“I am really happy (at qualifying for the Champions League), it is an achievement,” he said on May 3.

“We had looked like we can go all the way and stay in the (title) race for longer.

“But it’s still third place behind two teams who have done really well... it is not over yet, but the pressure is off now. It would be really cool if we could play our football now because it’s been intense the last few weeks.”

As for facing Tottenham, Klopp added: “I expect a good side. If you don’t defend properly, Spurs will play through you. They always have a clear football idea. We have to defend compact.”

The Liverpool boss said that he could not forget their last meeting, a 2-1 loss away in September, where his team were reduced to nine men and had a Luis Diaz goal wrongly ruled out by the VAR (video assistant referee).

“I would like to win this for 500 reasons and the way we lost that (game) is one of them,” he said.

Klopp confirmed that Conor Bradley is training with the team after returning from injury but Diogo Jota is not, while captain Virgil van Dijk is a slight doubt.

Over in the Spurs camp, Ange Postecoglou said his team have hard work to do if they are to become serious challengers for the Premier League title but believes the players can learn from their current pain.

Their loss to Chelsea came after a 3-2 home defeat by arch-rivals Arsenal and a 4-0 hammering at Newcastle United.

They look likely to miss out on a spot in next season’s Champions League – they are seven points behind Aston Villa with just four games remaining, though they have a game in hand.

Tottenham have not won a major trophy since lifting the 2008 League Cup and it is more than 60 years since they were last crowned champions of England.

“We’re a long way off but it doesn’t mean we can’t challenge next year,” said Postecoglou, who is without the injured Timo Werner, Ben Davies, Destiny Udogie, Fraser Forster, Manor Solomon and Ryan Sessegnon.

“I think, in terms of the team I want us to be, we’re a fair way off but I’m not dismissing the fact that we have to be competitive and challenge for success every year I am here. REUTERS, AFP