Hargreaves gives Liverpool Champions League verdict and Chelsea warning

Liverpool’s emphatic 5-2 defeat of West Ham United has propelled Jürgen Klopp’s side into the thick of the battle for next season’s expanded Champions League places, and former England midfielder Owen Hargreaves believes the Reds’ experience gives them the edge over top-four rivals Chelsea.

With Arsenal leading the Premier League on 61 points and Manchester City on 59, the more pressing contest lies just beneath. Liverpool currently occupy fifth spot with 48 points from 28 matches, level with fourth-placed Manchester United, while Chelsea trail in sixth on 45 points with a game in hand. Because England is again expected to receive five group-stage berths, Klopp’s men control their own fate.

Speaking on Premier League Productions and quoted by Metro, Hargreaves backed Liverpool to secure a top-five finish and highlighted why the pressure is mounting on Mauricio Pochettino’s young Chelsea squad.

“I think the difficulty for Chelsea is they have a really young team, they don’t have the experience that I think Liverpool have,” Hargreaves said. “They’ve probably got the hardest run of fixtures. If they’re going to get into it they’ve really got to earn it, Chelsea.”

The victory over West Ham marked Liverpool’s third straight league win, following 1-0 successes against Sunderland and Nottingham Forest. The Anfield rout also delivered the club’s first five-goal league performance of the campaign, yet the second-half dip that allowed the visitors brief hope reinforced the need for greater game management.

Pundits Don Hutchison and Steve Nicol argued that the squad lacks a Ronnie Moran-type figure to enforce standards during momentum swings, noting spells when Liverpool chased a sixth goal instead of controlling territory and tempo. Such lapses, they warned, could prove costly in forthcoming FA Cup and Champions League knockout ties.

Hargreaves, however, insists Liverpool’s blend of know-how and match-winners like Hugo Ekitike makes the difference in a congested run-in. If Klopp’s side can combine their current winning habit with tighter second-half focus, the former Bayern Munich man says Champions League qualification should be viewed as an expectation rather than a hope.

Liverpool now turn their attention to maintaining that consistency across multiple competitions, knowing each victory edges them closer to Europe’s premier tournament and leaves Chelsea with the tougher path.