InterviewAlex Oxlade-Chamberlain: We know winning applies pressure at the top

Liverpool reduced the gap to leaders Manchester City to nine points by beating Crystal Palace 3-1 last Sunday.

The Reds also hold a game in hand on Pep Guardiola’s team and Oxlade-Chamberlain – a goalscorer in each of his side’s last two top-flight outings – is well aware of what is required in the closing months of the campaign.

“That’s the position we find ourselves in now: we are chasing and we know we can’t afford to lose points and drop points,” the No.15 told Liverpoolfc.com.

“We just have to keep winning and [if] you keep winning games, you put pressure on the teams ahead of you.

“I think when we won the Premier League a couple of years ago, even though we had a big gap you still feel that little bit of pressure when teams are chasing you. You maybe have a bit of a dip in performance and drop a couple of points.

“You never know, those things can affect teams. We’ve just got to keep winning games, keep putting pressure on and whatever will be will be in the end.”

The victory at Selhurst Park was Liverpool’s last fixture before a two-week international break.

Oxlade-Chamberlain continued: “Whilst the team are winning games you want to keep playing games and keep winning games.

“But at the same time there are a lot of games, a lot of fixtures and we are going to have an important run-in, and we need everyone as fit and as rested as possible.

“So when you get these opportunities and with the busy schedule, especially just after Christmas in January, it’s good for the lads, so we’ve got to make sure we rest up and keep doing a bit of work whilst we are off and we’ll be ready for when we come back.”