Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp defended his team after they conceded ground in the title race.

The Reds were beaten at Goodison Park by Everton for the first time in nearly 15 years.

The Toffees got a massive boost in their own relegation fight, while dealing a potential death blow to the Reds' title credentials.

Post-game, Klopp said on the poor performance and result: “There are different aspects, definitely. Players who played all the games are not that fresh, but that is for other teams the same. I don't want to use that as an excuse, really – as long as the boys are fit, not injured, that helps. Let me say, Gabriel and [William] Saliba played all the games for Arsenal.

“Did they play a little bit less than us? I don't even know 100 per cent – but they played a lot of games as well. Coming back from injury obviously is then slightly different, because of the intensity – the game is not waiting for you. Up front it is a super-intense job to do, always high sprint, always go, go, go and that we cannot change [players] there is difficult.

“I know we had Dannsy [Jayden Danns] on the bench, but we didn't know we had to bring him in [to the squad] because of the two situations – with Diogo [Jota] we only learned two days ago [about his injury] and with Cody [Gakpo] actually today really.

“So, that's now not a game for an 18-year-old boy and [James] Tarkowski and Branthwaite kill you in these situations and it doesn't help. So, a lot of things came together [and] it's not great timing, I admit that. I would prefer to be sitting here, winning 4-0, flying and can't wait for the next game.

“How I said, the job is to win football games and the more you win, the more successful you are. In the moment, we didn't win enough to get anything out of the season yet so we should better start winning again.