Liverpool’s all-important clash with Middlesbrough on the final day is effectively a cup final as the Reds look to secure a place to the Champions League, according to Jamie Carragher.
Jurgen Klopp’s men are a point clear of Arsenal and two behind Manchester City ahead of the top-four shoot-out.
Victory would ensure a return to Europe’s premier club competition after a three-year wait and dramatically boost the club’s summer transfer prospects.
Carragher, then, feels it is his former club’s biggest game since 2014, when they were challenging for the title.
“The final game is actually a final,” the ex-Reds defender wrote in his Daily Mail column. “There is no other way to describe what is the most important Premier League fixture Liverpool have contested since challenging for the title in April 2014.
“This is a huge moment for my old club. Liverpool have only been in the Champions League once since 2009 and that particular campaign passed in a flash, with just six group games and one solitary victory against the Bulgarian team Ludogorets.”
An emphatic 4-0 victory over West Ham last week provided a timely confidence for boost for the Reds, who will be backed by a sell-out crowd on Sunday.
The away side have already been relegated, but do have a relatively strong defensive record, having conceded fewer than any other side in the bottom half.
