Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk broke his silence after their embarrassing 2-0 defeat at Goodson Park against home side Everton.

The Dutchman now has raised doubts about whether his teammates are in the English Premier League title race to win. Van Dijk has insinuated that Liverpool does not deserve to win the English Premier League season 2023/24 title.

The Reds are placed second three points behind leaders Arsenal and only four matches away from the culmination of the season.

“In games like these, the bare minimum is a fight,’ said the defender.

‘We were lacking that at so many moments – small challenges, some passes that were not clear so we came into challenges that they won and they got momentum out of it. They were having I don’t know how many set pieces. That could make a difference because it’s a strength of theirs.

‘But we have to look in the mirror and every one of us has to think like, “Listen, you can’t accept this, you can’t accept the way we let our season end, if you play like we did today, you don’t deserve to win the league”.

‘If we play like today and let it slip like today then you shouldn’t even think about (the title). It’s a mix of everything. You can’t put a finger on it, confidence, inexperience, challenges, maybe afraid to make mistakes in this part of the season. We can’t accept this.”

The defeat means Liverpool miss the chance to move level on points with Arsenal at the top of the Premier League, and Van Dijk has called for improvements all around as the Reds prepare for their last four games of the season.

“I think anyone at the start of the season would never have thought we would be competing for the title. But I don’t care what anyone says, we are here now, and we all have to do much better.

“It sounds pretty simple, but it starts with the fight and with the will to win your challenges, and be confident in scoring a goal.

“That’s what we have been lacking a little bit. It’s a combination of a lot of things not falling into place. The Fulham game I think was an improvement but today again, in so many ways, we have to do much better.”

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