Jurgen Klopp plays down Liverpool title challenge but insists he's committed to rebuild

Jurgen Klopp has said that it is highly unlikely Liverpool will win the Premier League this season, but reaffirmed his commitment to the club and is confident about their chances in other competitions.

The Reds have started the new term abysmally by their own lofty standards, and head to high-flying Arsenal on Sunday already 13 points behind league leaders Manchester City.

Liverpool have won just two of their opening seven league games to open the new season, and speaking to the media before their trip to the Emirates Stadium, Klopp revealed he all but considers his side out of the title picture.

"From this point, does it look like we will be champions at the end of the year? Unfortunately not," Klopp said.

"But in all other competitions we are not out yet. Nobody knows where we will end up in the league, so we just give it a go. That's it. Difficult yes, impossible no. So let's go from here. Did I think we'd be ninth after match-day seven? No. But this is the base where we are now and we must go from here."

Klopp surprised the footballing world when he quickly signed a new four-year contract with Liverpool back in April, with most assuming he would leave the club when his previous deal expired in 2024.

The German coach has overseen a strange habit of his side's form dipping once reaching his seventh season at that club, occurring previously with Mainz and Borussia Dortmund before such stagnation returned at Liverpool.

But Klopp insisted he is fully motivated to turning the Reds' fortunes around and that this is not a situation like those experienced in the past.

"I had no plans for seven years here. I was just happy to survive the first press conference because my English skills were really not that good! But I have no problem with energy - and the situation here is completely different. When I was a manager at Mainz, after three years we got promoted to the Bundesliga and three years later we got relegated. We tried one more year - and the club then needed a change because players left us for the Bundesliga," he added.

"I was full of energy. I went directly to Dortmund and all was fine. I could have stayed there. They wanted me to stay. But it was a case of players constantly getting pulled to other clubs or leaving for whatever reason - and that was really a hard job to do. Instead of developing a team we were constantly taking two steps back. It was really intense and exhausting. It was the reason why I said ‘OK, come on, we have to stop it here'.

"I had no energy problem, but took a year’s holiday because it was fancy at that time. I think Pep [Guardiola] did it and Thomas Tuchel did it. So a holiday - let's give it a try. But I couldn't do it and after four months I was here.”

"I am in a difficult situation at the moment. But, if you think twice about it, you would realise the situations [between Liverpool and Dortmund] are completely different. Being here for seven years is intense. No doubt about that."