Jurgen Klopp says it's Liverpool's ‘duty’ to beat Chelsea as he provides Virgil van Dijk injury update
The Liverpool manager is happy to have the opportunity to make amends for his side's League Cup defeat earlier this week
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Your support makes all the difference.It's not so much a desire as a duty feels the Liverpool manager.
Jurgen Klopp looked on as Eden Hazard's wonderful solo goal at Anfield brought an end to the club-record seven straight wins with which his team had started the season.
Just as against Leicester City last year, though, Klopp's men have the chance to exact immediate revenge on their Carabao Cup conquerors.
Victory was achieved at the King Power last year, although Stamford Bridge has not been Liverpool's happiest hunting ground - their 14 Premier League defeats in west London the highest anywhere outside of Old Trafford.
Klopp, though, is happy to have the chance to hit back straight away and try to maintain a 100 per cent start in their first six league games.
"We want to strike back, that's sports. Striking back is a duty, it's a big part of what I love. It’s not easy to play a team in August and then say in May ‘let’s strike back’ but in three days, it’s possible. Let’s try," said Klopp as he prepared to take his table-topping team to take on third-placed Chelsea.
The line-ups at Stamford Bridge will be considerably different than Anfield in midweek, where both Klopp and counterpart Maurizio Sarri made eight changes, but the Reds boss is expecting just as difficult an encounter.
“At least. It will be tough, it will be intense for both sides. It’s a big one, it’s Chelsea versus Liverpool. That sounds already good, now we have to make sure that it is good.
“It will not be an easy game, both teams know that. But how I said, the best preparation for the Saturday game is the Wednesday game, because you can never know more about an opponent than in a match against them.”
A win for Liverpool would open up a five-point gap on Chelsea in a week when former Reds captain Graeme Souness suggested Klopp's team would give any Anfield team of any era a decent game.
Klopp isn't thinking in those terms.
“It's difficult enough to try to win the game or get a point at Chelsea, I don't think about the five point gap, and the five point gap with 31 games to go is nothing. It's only about gaining points on our account," he said.
“If Graeme Souness has said that, then he's right. We'd give all the teams a proper game. That's how we see it as well. But giving somebody a proper game doesn't mean you will win that game."
Klopp felt the midweek game was "unbelievably interesting" in how his players tried to adapt both to their own formation - five had either not played or barely played this season - and to that of Chelsea.
The good news, he felt, was that it was his side who had the big chances to win the game before Hazard produced his world-class moment.
Klopp didn't need reminding of the Belgian's sublime talents, though he felt his team had plenty of chances to stop his winning strike.
"A few years ago we played Chelsea with Diego Costa and Eden Hazard. A different system with two strikers, and that night it felt like ‘wow!’ We could defend all of them but not him.
“I know exactly how good he is. Eden Hazard is a special player, and he enjoys these 1v1 situations. I didn’t need that game to know about Eden. It was already clear before!”
If Klopp is to stop Hazard it is not yet clear if he will be able to enlist Virgil van Dijk to the cause, the Dutchman having left last Saturday's match against Southampton after aggravating bruised ribs.
Trent Alexander-Arnold and Gini Wijnaldum will be available.
“With Virgil we have to wait. He hasn't trained so far with the team but I can't say any more about that.
“If Virgil is fit and can play, then he will play. But if not, then obviously we have options and that's really good. His impact is always obvious, but we could play football before Virgil van Dijk and we can play football without Virgil van Dijk, thank God."
While another raft of changes may be seen as an indication of the renewed squad depth at Anfield, Klopp feels the deep roster of Saturday's opponents is too often overlooked.
"We talk about our depth but nobody spoke about Chelsea. They made eight changes as well, and I think Zappacosta and a few others were not involved.
“You need that. You cannot go through a season with 12 or 13 or 14 players. You need 20 of them, that’s how it is.
“I am completely happy with the depth of the squad, when all are fit. That doesn’t happen a lot, that all are fit and available, but when it does I am happy.”
Stamford Bridge is the start of another key week for Liverpool, though they all seem that way these days.
"Before we started it was clear that a game against Chelsea at Chelsea will not be a children's birthday or whatever, that's pretty intense. Then we go to Naples which is a tough place to go and then Man City coming.
"It's an interesting month, to be honest."
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