Liverpool will not make special plans for Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, says Jurgen Klopp

Eden Hazard escaped the clutches of five possible Liverpool challenges to fire a late Chelsea winner and send the Reds crashing out of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, and they meet again this weekend

Jurgen Klopp will not have needed his normal thorough video analysis on Liverpool’s next opponents to identify where their chief threat will come from. He witnessed it with his own eyes at Anfield on Wednesday night as Eden Hazard escaped the clutches of five possible Liverpool challenges to fire a late Chelsea winner and send the Reds crashing out of the Carabao Cup.

The quirks of the fixture list offer Klopp and his team the chance to exact revenge just four days later as the Premier League leaders head to Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening. Hazard will be waiting, his six goals already double that of any other Chelsea player, yet Klopp with resist any temptation to make special preparations for the Belgian maestro.

There will be no man-marking job, even if Klopp has employed it successfully previously, in the 2013/14 Champions League semi-final against Xabi Alonso.

Klopp said: “When Dortmund played Real Madrid, Mario Gotze played against Xabi Alonso, but no (man-marking Hazard) because he is much more flexible, he is all over the park. With Xabi Alonso it was clear where he was playing. That is a big difference. It is not necessary. You need to be ready and it is more than tough and I have the biggest respect for this player. I love it, what a player, ‘wow.’ But it is not to defend alone.”

Instead Klopp will rely on the possibilities of his own team whose start to the Premier League has been perfect. “It is about what we do,” he stresses.

If Liverpool have been manifestly more solid at the back this season – Klopp must decide whether Virgil van Dijk can play through the pain barrier with his bruised ribs – the much-revered front three of Mane, Firmino and Salah have left some underwhelmed.

Not so their manager though, who also detects a renewed ability from his team to source goals from other areas – all three against Southampton last weekend stemmed from set plays.

Mohamed Salah has scored three league goals (Reuters)

“I am really happy with the front three to be honest. They have done a really good job. Had we scored more at this time last year? I’m not sure. Bobby has three, Mo three, Sadio four – so 10 that’s not bad. We have 14 in total (in the league). We need their goals. But they will not score in every game so we need goals from other situations as well.

“So far this season I think we’ve improved around set-pieces. Even when we don’t score from corners, it looks like we’ve met each other before on the training ground and worked on it. In tight games you always need a game opener and a set-piece can be that. So far, so good. We were good so far but we can be better, we know that and we need to be better.”

Chelsea under Maurizio Sarri are a very different proposition than last year’s vintage under Antonio Conte but Klopp feels the change could even benefit his team, who also face Napoli and Manchester City in the next week.

“We really love that the other team has a football style and approach, passing or whatever. I said before the game on Wednesday I really respect it. The Chelsea team of the last two years were perfectly organised, good defending on the highest level. It was not bus parking, but a very good defensive team with world class players on the pitch.

“Now it is different. We will have our chances. Each team has had chances against Chelsea so far.”

Third-placed Chelsea will leapfrog Liverpool with a win and Klopp is in no doubt they will have a big role to play in any title race this season.

“Whenever anyone ever talks to me about Man City and Liverpool (as contenders), I say they’ve forgotten about Chelsea and I can’t understand that. This Chelsea team doesn’t look like they will lose 20 games this season. They already have a few points and we can’t influence how many they get in the end, apart from the two games against them.

“Whoever wants to join that race will need to win a lot of games. Now we play against each other and it’s very important but how we’ve learned a few times all the other games have exactly the same importance. I’m not even thinking about Naples yet, this game needs all of our concentration and focus. That’s good. I respect good football teams and I enjoy playing against them.

“Now let’s try to do it a bit better than in the last game and if we do that we’ll have a chance. That’s all I need.”