Trent Alexander-Arnold has said that Liverpool’s failure to secure Champions League football for the 2023/24 season presents them with an opportunity to go all guns blazing for the Premier League title.
The Reds finished fifth last season – four points behind fourth-placed Newcastle United – despite securing seven wins and two draws from their last nine league encounters.
Liverpool will play in the Europa League for the first time since Jurgen Klopp’s first season at the club, with the Reds’ last game in the competition coming in the 3-1 defeat to Sevilla in the final back in 2016.
Speaking to The Independent, Alexander-Arnold claimed Liverpool’s main focus ahead of the 2023/24 campaign is on the Premier League, without the added distraction of the Champions League.
While the 24-year-old full back, who was recently appointed as the club’s new vice-captain, insisted that the Reds wouldn’t disrespect the Europa League, he maintained that Liverpool’s primary focus is to snatch the Premier League crown from Manchester City.
Alexander-Arnold said: “It gives a chance to focus on the Premier League a lot more. We respect the competitions we play and want to win them all but definitely going into the season, our aim is to win the Premier League. [The Europa League] gives us a good chance to focus on it. It’s not about coming second or third and building on that, we’re a team full of winners.
“We know what it takes, we have the culture and the manager to win. It’s positive pressure to go and do it again because we’ve got the team to win it.”
The Reds ultimately finished 22 points off 2022/23 winners City, having run them so close the previous year.
Jurgen Klopp is the only current Premier League manager, besides Pep Guardiola, to have ever won the title.
