Klopp warns Reds of a Boro bounce

Beating relegated Teessiders will secure CL spot

LONDON - Jurgen Klopp believes Liverpool's 4-0 rout of West Ham on Sunday proves it can cope with the pressure of the fight for Champions League qualification, but he warned his players against complacency in their final test against relegated Middlesbrough.

Liverpool's destiny is in its own hands after a dominant display at London Stadium.

Victory at home to Boro will secure a top-four Premier League finish. However, if Arsenal drops points against Sunderland on Tuesday, the Reds will return to Europe's elite club competition before the season's last weekend.

"Part of our life is to handle pressure, to ignore the bad part of pressure and to use the good part of pressure," Klopp said.

"We drew in the last game with Southampton, we didn't score with a penalty and maybe people said then: 'They can't deal with pressure.'

"I thought we saw a really convincing performance with no doubts about anything.

"But the first sentence the players said in the dressing room was: 'One more time. One more game.'

"We will stay focused 100 percent, we know about the difficulty of the next game, nobody will underestimate it one percent."

Liverpool is heavy favorite to beat Boro, but Klopp thinks the Teessiders are a dangerous proposition with the pressure now off them following their drop to the Championship.

"Middlesbrough has had a hard season, and it's hard in a season like this to enjoy football," the German said.

"I'm pretty sure they'll want to enjoy football at Anfield, they'll want to try anything and that makes life difficult for us.

"If we can be as focused as today and as fluent and have as good movements, then it will be difficult for them."

Classy Coutinho

Klopp hailed man-of-the-match Philippe Coutinho, who scored twice and created Daniel Sturridge's opening goal.

Divock Origi added the fourth goal but it was Coutinho who drew Klopp's most fulsome praise.

At times lost when stationed on the wing, Coutinho has flourished at the tip of the diamond and has scored six goals in the last seven games.

"He was never a winger, he's always kind of a playmaker, it's not interesting where he's coming from, he needs to be at one point, in the decisive area in the middle of the park," Klopp said.

"He needs to be in shooting situations and finishing situations, that's what he did today. Obviously he did really well in this position."

Sturridge was another to shine, scoring his first goal since Jan 2 after an injury-plagued season.

West Ham wants to sign the England striker, but Klopp said: "He gives us options. His paced troubles teams and I thought his timing was brilliant."

West Ham ended Tottenham's title tilt in their previous match, but never came close to derailing Liverpool's European bid.

"I wanted the same performance as against Spurs or similar," Hammers manager Slaven Bilic said.

"We didn't do it. We have to be honest about it. We were without a few players, but it was also against Spurs.

"We wanted to avoid complacency but it was obviously there at least subconsciously.

"We were nowhere near close enough. If you give time and space to Coutinho, Sturridge and (Adam) Lallana they will kill you.

"That's exactly what happened. If you put that on a performance that was not good enough, it usually ends like this."

Agence France-Presse

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp savors his team's 4-0 victory over West Ham United in their English Premier League match at London Stadium on Sunday. Peter Nicholls / Reuters