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Dejan Lovren insists Liverpool’s Premier League title hopes remain intact - despite the frustration of being held to a 2-2 draw by lowly Sunderland.

The Croatian centre-back believes fatigue, refereeing mistakes and a below-par display from Jurgen Klopp’s side contributed to a disappointing afternoon at the Stadium of Light.

Liverpool spurned the chance to cut Chelsea’s lead at the top to three points ahead of the Londoners’ trip to White Hart Lane on Wednesday night.

Lovren admits conceding a late equaliser was tough to take but says the Reds remain serious contenders as they gear up for two titantic leagues clashes with Manchester United and Chelsea later month.

“It felt like a defeat, especially after beating Manchester City,” Lovren told the ECHO.

“But we have to keep our heads high. A point is better than nothing.

“There is still half a season to go. There are so many games in front of us and in front of Chelsea. We just have to concentrate on ourselves.

“We will have more ups and downs throughout the season. We need to learn from the mistakes we made against Sunderland.

“I’d prefer we took the three points and reduced that gap by more but we need to keep moving on.

“We have some really big games in front of us. I’d say we like to play against the big teams. There’s a lot to play for.”

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Lovren, who took the armband in the second half after James Milner was forced off with a calf problem, was Liverpool’s outstanding performer against the Black Cats as he continued his rich vein of form. But the former Southampton defender says he was feeling the strain after such a gruelling festive period.

It was the Reds’ third Premier League clash in the space of a week and arrived less than 44 hours after the energy-sapping win over Manchester City.

“Physically, it was really tough,” Lovren said.

“Of course it was the same for Sunderland as it was for us. It’s not possible to play two games at a high level in the space of just two days, especially as our first one was such a massive game against Man City when we were running everywhere.

“I don’t know why the fixtures are arranged like that. But I don’t want to talk about that. I don’t want to look for excuses. It is what it is.”

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Lovren knows the Reds didn’t help themselves as some sloppy mistakes enabled David Moyes’ relegation threatened side to build up a head of steam.

But the £20million man also says Liverpool were on the wrong end of some poor decisions from referee Anthony Taylor, who gave the Black Cats two penalties.

The second one came from a free-kick which was awarded after Jermain Defoe had gone down easily after tangling with Lucas Leiva and Emre Can just outside the box.

“We’re disappointed,” Lovren added.

“I don’t like to talk about referees but two soft decisions went against us.

“The first penalty, I don’t agree with, and for the second one, it was a handball by (Sadio) Mane but it was never a foul before that.

“I don’t know what he saw at that time but it wasn’t a foul. When you concede two goals from penalties it’s bad luck. We could have taken the three points but it just wasn’t our game.

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“From nothing, we conceded that late goal. At 2-1 up, we were in control. Despite the fatigue, we had even more chances to score more goals. But we can’t do anything about it now.

“We weren’t at 100% from the beginning against Sunderland. We only woke up after they’d had a couple of chances. Some better teams would have scored those chances so we need to tighten up.

“We gave everything against Man City and defended so well in that game. At Sunderland we showed a different side. I won’t say we didn’t defend well but we can’t be happy with conceding two goals.”