Juergen Klopp refused to rule out Liverpool as Premier League title contenders after ending the year level on points with Manchester United and nine behind leaders Arsenal.

“I don’t know,” the manager told Sky Sports television after Liverpool, who last won a top-flight title in 1990, won 1-0 at struggling Sunderland on Wednesday night.

“You can see we have both 30 points. I think in this moment Liverpool feels not too bad and in Man Utd the atmosphere is not the best.

“We wanted at least 30 points, we got them. Perfect.”

United have been seen as contenders for much of the season despite lacklustre performances but the heat is on manager Louis van Gaal whose side have gone eight games without a win.

Klopp, now with 11 league matches under his belt since arriving at Liverpool to replace the sacked Brendan Rodgers, said things were going in the right direction.

“I can do better, but of course I did sometimes worse in my life so everything’s OK,” he said.

Against a defensive Sunderland, second-bottom of the table and desperate for a draw to avoid a fifth successive defeat, Liverpool looked for the early goal but found it difficult.

“We had our situations against a good defending side, nearly only defending so that makes it harder,” he said.

Adam Lallana, who provided the touch for Benteke to score the winner, recognised Liverpool were lucky.

“I don’t think I meant it to go directly into Christian’s path but sometimes you need the rub of the green, especially when you come to a tough place like this,” he said.

“The manager’s tried to drum it into us that sometimes we’ve got to be a bit more dirty and got to fight a bit more, play teams at their own game,” Lallana added.