LONDON: Liverpool are refusing to give up the chase for a top-four berth in the Premier League.

Jurgen Klopp’s men maintained their unlikely pursuit of a Champions League place by beating Tottenham Hotspur 4-3 in a thriller at Anfield, with Diogo Jota scoring a last-gasp winner in Sunday’s late kick-off to move into fifth place with 56 points.

Third-placed Newcastle United (65) and Man­chester United (63) in fourth with a game in hand are strong favourites to seal Champions League places for next season behind Manchester City and Arsenal.

But neither Newcastle boss Eddie Howe nor United manager Erik ten Hag will be comfortable about seeing Liverpool in their rear-view mirror.

Liverpool have won their past four league games and their run-in does not look unduly taxing while Newcastle and United have some tricky games still to play.

Klopp will seek to infuse his team with the belief that they can rescue a disappointing season.

“We got away with it thank to Diogo Jota — it makes it spectacular and everybody goes home buzzing,” Klopp told Sky.

Goals by Curtis Jones, Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah put Liverpool 3-0 ahead inside the opening 15 minutes as Tottenham suffered a horrible case of deja-vu having conceded five in the opening 21 minutes of a 6-1 rout at Newcastle a week ago.

But Tottenham hit back before halftime through Harry Kane and hit the woodwork three times before Son Heung-min set up a nerve-jangling finale and Richarlison flicked a downward header past Alisson in the third minute of stoppage time.

There was one final twist though as Jota latched on to a mistake by Lucas Moura and fired low past Fraser Forster to spark pandemonium on the touchline.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2023