Our Liverpool fans in the Transfer Tavern have had a rather up and down season so far, this was summed up recently with the fantastic win against Man City followed by the defeat by Swansea the week after.

Jurgen Klopp has brought some very exciting and exhilarating football to Anfield, especially this season but this is often counterbalanced with poor defensive displays. Klopp addressed this in January by bringing in Virgil Van Dijk for £75m from Southampton, which our Reds in the pool room will be hoping should pay off in the long term.

Next up should be the goalkeeping situation, in which Klopp has failed to settle on a permanent number one between the sticks.

Liverpool are on the cusp of Champions League football places with three other teams around them all fighting for the same spots. With that in mind, our landlord has been taking a look at what two fixtures could define the Reds season into a successful campaign…

February 4th: Home v Tottenham Hotspur

If Liverpool are going to cement their Champions League spot they have to beat the teams around them and not drop any points in the process. The Reds are capable of blowing any team away as they showed against league leaders Man City and do usually like to step it up against the big teams when they arrive at Anfield.

With home advantage, this could turn out to be one of the games of the season against a similar attack minded Spurs side but a win is the minimum Liverpool need to come away with.

May 5th: Away v Chelsea

In Liverpool’s final away game of the season, they face rivals Chelsea with the places for next seasons Champions League could still be up for grabs. Liverpool need to capture the three points off the Blues in order to finish in the top-four and a May date with the Blues will be massive.

This is depending on Liverpool not having a Klopp moment and self-destructing before then, but going off the overall season so far, many of the regulars feel that the fight for the top four will go down to the wire.