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Premier League | Gameweek 1
Aug 9, 2019 at 8pm UK
 
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Jurgen Klopp confirms Sadio Mane is in contention for Premier League opener

Klopp confirms Mane in contention for PL opener
© Reuters
Klopp's side ended last season as European champions but the goal this time around has to be ending a 30-year wait for a top-flight title.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp wants his team to stay "angry and greedy" as they bid to go one better than last season and lift the Premier League trophy.

Klopp's side ended last season as European champions but the goal this time around has to be ending a 30-year wait for a top-flight title after falling just one point short of Manchester City in a tense battle.

While his players tasted success in Madrid in June, Klopp wants no let up in their attitude as they look to build on a season in which they lost only one league game.

"It's the new season again," he said. "We have to be angry again, we have to be greedy again, we have to be all these things.

"What's very important is that as the team that won the Champions League last year, we have to stay the team that nobody wants to play against.

"Not because of the name or the quality but the intensity. That's what I will ask the boys for and that's what we have to show tomorrow night."

An opening-night fixture against newly-promoted Norwich will mean plenty of familiar faces at Anfield for Klopp.

Canaries boss Daniel Farke moved to Carrow Road from Borussia Dortmund's reserve team in 2017, and has imported a number of players from Klopp's old club.

"I don't think I've faced a Premier League side before where I've worked with so many of the players," he said. "When they were really young, of course."

Liverpool are of course overwhelming favourites on home turf, but Klopp admitted strange things can happen at the start of a new season.

"For them, winning the Championship was for us like winning the Champions League – it's so long ago you can't really build on it but both teams have reasons to be confident," he said.

"They were really special for a Championship team last year with the way they played. There was a clear structure, a clear plan. There was little coincidence in the game because everything looked properly planned out so they have all my respect.

"In these kinds of fixtures, with all the stories around them, they are always the banana skins. They are made for something like that.

"If you are not ready for it, if you are not 100 per cent, then you will slip. They are too good for that."

Liverpool last weekend lost the Community Shield to Manchester City on penalties, but were without Sadio Mane after his late return from a busy summer.

The Senegal forward is fit and available for Friday's match, if not a guaranteed starter.

"He only had two weeks off so he didn't lose a lot, that's the good news," Klopp said.

"Yesterday was his first session with the team and he looks absolutely OK and in good spirits and looking forward to it. He's an option so we will see."

Liverpool have had a quiet summer in the transfer market, bringing in youngsters Sepp Van Den Berg and Harvey Elliott as well as reserve goalkeeper Adrian, while preferring to focus on the boost provided by the return from injury of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Adam Lallana.

Klopp declined to say if the Reds have been offered their former midfielder Philippe Coutinho as the Barcelona man was linked with Arsenal and Tottenham, but said he was happy with his squad.

"Our transfer window was about checking options and thinking about it and then making decisions," he said.

"That's how we always do it. And if nothing happens then the decision was that it was not the right option for us. We will not make signings just to sign somebody because that makes no sense."

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Liverpool's Sadio Mane celebrates scoring against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on May 12, 2019.
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TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Arsenal33235577265174
2Liverpool33228375324374
3Manchester CityMan City32227376324473
4Aston Villa34206871502166
5Tottenham HotspurSpurs32186865491660
6Newcastle UnitedNewcastle321551269521750
7Manchester UnitedMan Utd32155124748-150
8West Ham UnitedWest Ham34139125463-948
9Chelsea31138106152947
10Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton321111105250244
11Wolverhampton WanderersWolves33127144653-743
12Fulham34126165054-442
13Bournemouth33119134860-1242
14Crystal Palace3399154256-1436
15Brentford3498175259-735
16Everton33108153448-1430
17Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest3479184260-1826
18Luton TownLuton3467214775-2825
19Burnley3458213769-3223
20Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd3337233188-5716


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