Ferdinand and Owen pick out three fixtures which will ‘define’ Liverpool for ‘rest of the season’

Following their Champions League exit, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Owen agreed that Liverpool’s next three fixtures will define their season.

Liverpool will now turn their full attention to the Premier League

Qualifying for Europe could make all the difference for Liverpool next season as they are looking at some high-profile transfer targets.

As things stand, Jurgen Klopp’s side are sixth in the league and are six points behind Tottenham, with a game in hand.

Liverpool’s next three fixtures in the league are against Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal.

“It is and as Crouchy [Peter Crouch] said, it’s worrying,” Owen told BT Sport. “The next few games could make or break Liverpool’s end to the season. The next three games are very tough.

“Playing Tottenham [later in the season] is a good thing, obviously they’re one of the teams they need to catch. But they need to get through the next two or three games unscathed, otherwise it could be an uphill climb.”

Fellow pundit Ferdinand echoed the thoughts of Owen, adding: “They’re going to limp into those three games against big, big teams who are all fighting for things as well.

“It’ll be very, very difficult, them three games will define what’s gonna happen for the rest of the season. If they don’t get anything positive out of those three games it’s going to be a dour season for Liverpool.”

As things stand, Liverpool have averaged 1.61 points in the Premier League and are projected to finish the season with 61 points.

For context, that point tally would have seen them finish sixth last season and would have been 10 points shy of a top four spot.

Following their Champions League exit,

“Being 5-2 down is not a great result if you want to got through,” Klopp told BT Sport.

“The right team went through, we have to admit that. Knockout stages are like this. It’s not what we wanted but it’s what we got.

“You need moments in a game like this, if we scored in the first half it could have given us the spark but this is hypothetical. They were the better team in three halves of this tie and that’s how you go through.

“If we draw at home and play like we did tonight, we probably go out as well. We cannot come here and hope that we get something. We prepared for a special performance tonight but it didn’t happen.”