As Liverpool prepare to take on Brighton in their final Premier League match of the season, there is an air of familiarity regarding the scenario the Reds find themselves in.

This time last season Jurgen Klopp’s men had taken their quest for Champions League football down to the wire, as they required a win on the final day against Middlesbrough to secure a return to Europe’s elite competition. Fast forward to the current day and the Reds’ top four pursuit, again, is to be settled in dramatic circumstances.

Liverpool would have needed a win against the Seagulls to achieve a top-four finish, though, Klopp’s men were handed a lifeline when Chelsea dropped points at home to Huddersfield Town on Wednesday evening- meaning the Reds now only require a point to seal Champions League football for a second consecutive season.

Admittedly, this seasons incredible European campaign has been a major distraction towards the latter stages of the Reds’ domestic campaign but this a worrying trend that can’t continue.

There have been a number of times whereby Liverpool have chosen to put fans through unbearable stress in order to achieve a result, or paradoxically to fail at completing a task which looked all but guaranteed.

The opening day of this year’s Premier League season saw Klopp’s side issue a forewarning of what was to follow in the months to follow, as they continued to display their rather unpredictable nature by playing out a dramatic 3-3 draw with Watford.

Liverpool fell behind early on but Sadio Mane restored parity, before the Hornets sharply responded to go 2-1 ahead. But goals from Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah sent the Reds into a 3-2 lead.

It looked as though Klopp’s side had begun the season in the perfect manner- three points. However, a Miguel Britos stoppage-time goal saw Liverpool’s three points slashed to one.

3-3 would be a scoreline that would crop up on two other occasions this season and would be a result that would define the Reds’ identity- football played on a knife edge, an outcome never certain and  attacking adventure coupled with defensive disasters.

Three nil up in Sevilla with 30 minutes to play, they surely just saw the game out? 3-3 the final outcome. Two goals to the good against Arsenal but three goals conceded in the space of five minutes would see the Gunners storm to a 3-2 lead, only for Firmino to spare Liverpool’s blushes late on.

The potential in this current Reds side knows no bounds but they must focus on developing a greater sense of game management in order to reach the pinnacle of  success.

With the Champions League final against Real Madrid looming- this is certainly not a time to be bringing back old habits.

The Spanish side- who have won the competition the last two years running- have developed a mentality which thrives upon the notion of winning at all costs. This kind of opposition will not allow Liverpool the opportunity to fight their way back into the game.

Mistakes must be erased.

Recent weeks have not provided the kind of results fans would  have wanted to see going into a game of this magnitude. A two- goal lead was surrendered late on against West Bromwich Albion, the Reds were then held at home to fellow strugglers Stoke and a 4-2 defeat to Roma so nearly forced extra-time  in a tie that appeared dead and buried when Klopp’s side were 5-0 up in the first leg at Anfield.

Complacency cannot creep in any longer. Liverpool, the team who plays with fire and conjures up the unexpected now face their biggest test in years.

Tom Cavilla.