Virgil van Dijk hit back at Michael Owen over his evaluation of Liverpool’s season after the 1-0 victory over Everton on Wednesday night.
Arne Slot’s side have restored their 12-point advantage over Arsenal at the highest of the Premier League as Diogo Jota sealed the win within the Merseyside derby at Anfield.
Liverpool now remain overwhelming favourites to win the Premier League this season but hopes of winning more silverware has been extinguished within the last two months as they were dumped out of the FA Cup by Plymouth, eliminated by Paris Saint-Germain within the Champions League last-16 and were beaten by Newcastle United within the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.
‘It’s been a frustrating couple of weeks,’ Owen told Premier League Productions after Liverpool’s win over Everton.
‘Liverpool were poised to have an outstanding season, in the event that they win the Premier League it’ll still be improbable but with a little bit little bit of a bitter taste since it was constructing into something special.
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‘I feel it Liverpool fans hard, and the manager and the players, to exit of competitions in quick succession.
‘The dust will settle, everyone will realise if it’s the Premier League they win at the tip of the season and only the Premier League that’ll be an incredible season and they might’ve snapped your hand off for that firstly of the season.
‘Nevertheless it doesn’t stop the sensation of the previous few weeks and to get that winning feeling back can be really essential to everybody connected with the club.’
In a post-match interview, Owen asked Van Dijk: ‘I’m just considering when it comes to the season up to now, in the event you’d have said firstly of the season you were going to win the Premier League I’m sure people would’ve been over the moon. Nevertheless, it was constructing into something really special – how hard was it after a pair of huge defeats in cup competitions to get your mind tuned back into the Premier League and to complete the season well?’
But Van Dijk was irked by Owen’s evaluation of Liverpool’s campaign and curtly replied: ‘So that you’re suggesting the season shouldn’t be going to be special any more?’
Owen said: ‘It would be, absolutely, it is going to be special, but I believed it could’ve been constructing into something very special.’
Van Dijk replied: ‘Well, I feel we’ve to vary that narrative a little bit bit.
‘We’re fighting for the most important prize of the season, we worked so hard for it, 20 teams are working so hard to be on top of the Premier League.
‘Now we have eight games to go, we all know what’s at stake, we’ve to go for it, we’ve to fight, we’ve to benefit from the whole ride after which let’s see. Like I said, it’s still looking very special in my eyes.
‘I feel what you said, firstly of the season, I feel nobody expected us to even attempt to fight on all 4 fronts, obviously we’re on the stage now where we’re still fighting for the most important, and that’s the truth. It’s still a possibility that this season can be very, very special.’
After the interview, Owen doubled down on his evaluation of Liverpool’s season up to now.
‘I stand by what I said. When you had said firstly of the season that Liverpool would win the Premier league, it’s a really, very top season,’ Owen said.
‘As Virgil said, not many individuals gave them a probability really, especially changing their manager after so long with Jurgen Klopp being there.
‘Nevertheless, it was constructing into something incredibly special and I just wondered after a few weeks of disappointment how hard was it to re-focus, but obviously he gave us the reply.’
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