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- Reds still well on course for a first league title in 30 years with a commanding 22-point lead
WATFORD, UK: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp hopes his side鈥檚 stunning 3-0 defeat at Watford will serve as a lesson not to let their standards slip in the final few months of the season.
The Reds are still well on course for a first league title in 30 years with a commanding 22-point lead at the top of the table.
But they were beaten for the first time in 45 Premier League games and in comprehensive fashion at Vicarage Road as Ismaila Sarr鈥檚 double and Troy Deeney鈥檚 measured finish completed a famous win for Watford.
鈥淥f course sometimes a little knock is important,鈥� said Klopp. 鈥淪o I don鈥檛 see anything negative in it. From time to time if you are not good enough you need to see effect.鈥�
Liverpool need a maximum of four wins from their last 10 games to guarantee the title but could still go on to win five trophies
this season.
The Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup have already been claimed, while Klopp鈥檚 men travel to Chelsea in the FA Cup fifth round on Tuesday and trail Atletico Madrid 1-0 from the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
鈥淲e can start again with whatever we did before, and we will,鈥� said Klopp. 鈥淲e cannot say now we will react in this way or that. We have to show it in the next games.鈥�
Dejan Lovren was one of those blamed by the Liverpool support for a rare defeat as Deeney relished the battle with the Croatian international.
And Lovren is also hoping a 鈥渨ake-up call鈥� inspires Liverpool in the final stages of the season.
鈥淢aybe it is a wake-up call for us,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t can be a benefit to help us get to the end of the season.
鈥淲e know there is always an end for everything. It is here where our unbeaten run ended. We will not look at this result and think it was a bad season because of losing here. One performance won鈥檛 ruin everything, but this is always a learning process.
鈥淭he last couple of games hadn鈥檛 been the best performances but we won. This one, it didn鈥檛 happen. This one was like someone hit us in our faces 鈥� and we deserved it.鈥�