Jurgen Klopp claimed his Liverpool side are within ‘punching distance’ of the Premier League’s leading teams.
The Reds find themselves in 6th place ahead of the Premier League’s Boxing Day restart, where the Merseyside team travel to Aston Villa for their first match back.
Despite their underwhelming first-half of the season, Klopp insisted his side are close to ‘the exciting spots’ in the league and called on his players to reach them.
According to the Evening Standard, Klopp said: ‘We obviously left a gap between us and the much more exciting spots in the table, but we consider ourselves in the moment within punching distance and that means we have to chase and that’s what we will do.
‘All the players who are back from the World Cup now look really on it, that’s very important.
‘I think some of them could really gain confidence even when it probably was not that low before, but a good World Cup, like for Hendo [Jordan Henderson] for example, is for sure helpful.
‘So we are really looking forward to what is coming up but we know it is intense.
‘There are never guarantees out there and I can imagine at Arsenal that everybody is buzzing to go again, City you saw, they have expectations and ambitions.’
The German coach recently indicated his desire to sign reinforcements during the January transfer window and admitted the club are ‘looking’ for options.
‘I am not against investment to be honest, it is clear, but we will see what the future brings,’ said Klopp.
‘In our situation, we always say we are prepared from a sports side. It is clear the ideas we have and the necessity but all the rest is not 100 per cent in our hands.
‘You can imagine the situation we are in, we are probably looking. If something happens, we will see.’
Liverpool were beaten 3-2 in the EFL Cup by Manchester City on Thursday and next face Aston Villa on Boxing Day.
James Milner is a major doubt after limping off at The Etihad but Klopp is hopeful Trent Alexander-Arnold will have recovered from a virus.
Ibrahima Konate returns to training on December 27 after reaching the World Cup final with France.
