Van Dijk: Following their derby loss, Liverpool have “no chance” in the championship fight

Virgil van Dijk said that Liverpool may not be competing for the Premier League championship following their unexpected 2-0 loss to Everton in the Merseyside derby on Wednesday.

With goals in either half, Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin gave the Toffees their first victory against Liverpool at Goodison Park since 2010.

Even though they dominated for extended periods of time, Liverpool failed to get past the Toffees’ defense, and the captain of the Reds believes they won’t outlast Manchester City and Arsenal until they make significant adjustments.

Van Dijk said in an interview with Sky Sports: “We have no opportunity to consider ourselves in the championship fight if we perform as we did today.

“We simply need to concentrate on the next game, which will be difficult anyway, so we’ll see.

We’re really let down in a lot of different ways. Everyone has to examine their own performances, in my opinion. Did they really want to win the league and did they really give it their all?

“We’re still fighting and there are still games after tonight, but if we play like we did overall in the game today – not winning challenges and giving the referee a chance to give free-kicks like he did many times, then you have no chance to win the title.”

With two games remaining, City is just one point behind Jurgen Klopp’s team in the Premier League, as Liverpool has lost two of their previous three games and is now three points behind league leaders Arsenal.

In line with his captain’s dissatisfaction with the outcome on Wednesday, Klopp said that his team had given Everton the advantage.

“We were emotional and in a rush in the second half, not really clear enough,” Klopp said.

Then, using a tactic they use all season, we let up a second goal. We knew the ball was heading there, but our defense was unable to stop it.

“That performance caught me off guard, but it did happen. We’re not in the best of times, but you have to push through it and take advantage of the opportunities to gain momentum.

“I apologize to everyone who is with us; I know it is particularly difficult for our people, but it is difficult for us as well. We lost because we didn’t perform as well as we could have.”