Unsurprisingly, Liverpool's recent focus has shifted somewhat.

Although no one at the club would dare to admit such a thing, the eyes have begun to look longingly at the Europa League, and rightly so.

The Premier League is still important to the Anfield side, but the Premier League's last game away at West Brom will almost certainly be a sideshow to the grand final on the 18th May in Basel.

The game against Chelsea on Wednesday wasn't one of Liverpool's better showings, although they improved in the second half. Jurgen Klopp managed to downplay the result's importance, but this was a point that will maintain the feel-good factor at Anfield under the charismatic German before their second final of the season. Klopp said after the game:

"The result tonight was not important, what's important is that we take the right information out of the game.

Expect an under strength side, much like the one that played at Swansea City and was soundly beaten.

Fringe players hoping to impress Klopp will want to stay in his future plans and will play alongside a few of the first-teamers, plus a few youngsters as well.

Liverpool are a team that live for European football and their rich successful history in European competitions means that they should be there every season, up with the best and projecting the Premier League in its brightest light.

Currently 8th in the league and with a possible 62 point finish into 6th, there is now talk of a Liverpool/West Ham Europa League play-off match. If Liverpool have to qualify for Europe through the league, then there is a scenario that has both West Ham and the Merseysiders on the same points, goal difference and goals scored, should Liverpool win and The Hammers lose on Sunday. Various permutations exist of course, but it is a possibility and one both clubs will want to avoid.

Which is why Liverpool will be focused on beating Sevilla next Wednesday. The Spaniards are in the final yet again, but like The Reds, they have also taken their eye off their league games and were thumped 4-1 at home to lowly Granada.

Despite sitting seventh in La Liga, they are some way off the pace, but they always seem to do well in this competition. They have won the competition four times, with the last two being in 2013/14 and 2014/15. This could be three in a row.

The holders were the first side in the tournament's modern era to successfully defend their title last term. The La Liga side were disappointed to exit the Champions League during the group stage and see a fifth Europa League title within their sights and a subsequent place back at the top table in European club football, Emery is surely confident his squad are fired up for the task.

But so are Liverpool. After one of the greatest comebacks in their history against Borussia Dortmund in the quarter-finals, the Reds impressed again in the last four to overturn a 1-0 deficit against Villarreal and book their place in the final.

The Europa League has taken on extra significance with the introduction of Champions League football for the winner.

Both Liverpool and Sevilla are out of contention for qualifying for the competition through their domestic leagues, making it undoubtedly the biggest game of their respective seasons.

The Spaniards will start as favourites, but the belief within Klopp's side will mean that bookies' odds won't bother them, which is what happened when they played Dortmund and the German side were the favourites. On the night, that counts for nothing.

Preparing for the final, Klopp has said that he won't wrap any of his stars in cotton wool with the final league game on Sunday, however, we can second guess that certain players will be rested at The Hawthorns. Klopp said:

"But I haven’t thought for one second yet about the line-up for Sevilla. If I thought about risk then we would leave everyone at home and put out a line-up with I don’t know who. That’s not how it works."

Time will tell who plays and who doesn't, but Klopp will be putting out his biggest guns to shoot down the Spaniards and win his first piece of silverware in what should be an entertaining tenure at Anfield.

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