Klopp keen for Reds to make it count at Chelsea
Liverpool are on an incredible run of form, but manager Jurgen Klopp knows they have to improve their record on the road against their top-six rivals.
The Reds may have lost just one of their last 44 league matches ahead of today’s encounter with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, taking a remarkable 115 points from a possible 132, but they have encountered recent struggles away from Anfield against the top sides.
In their previous 12 away matches at Chelsea, both Manchester clubs, Tottenham and Arsenal, they have returned with just one three-point haul.
That is something of a turnaround from the 2016-17 season when they won two and drew three of their trips to the top six.
“Obviously there are different ways to win away games, and we have to find one.
“It’s not good news, this stat, but I don’t feel it,” said Klopp, whose side are looking to set a new club record of seven successive league away wins.
“In 2016, we took points from all the top six and then had other problems, so that’s how life is. The longer things like this happen, the more likely it will change. We go there to get a result.
“We cannot go to Chelsea and want a guarantee that you win the game, they are just too strong for that.
“Obviously we have a job do but we will prepare for the game without that stat. It’s all about the quality of the performance.
“It is not written in the stars that we are not allowed to win at Chelsea, but it is obviously difficult.”
Chelsea’s last home league defeat came last December and their 11-match unbeaten run at Stamford Bridge includes six clean sheets, although none of those has yet come under Frank Lampard’s leadership.
The former Blues midfielder is still carving out a career as a fledgling manager, but Klopp has been impressed with how he has made the step up from Derby last season.
Lampard’s transition has not been helped by the club’s transfer ban, but his opposite number at Liverpool praised the way he has coped and sees similarities with his own past.
“It’s not my job to talk about other managers, but he did an outstanding job at Derby, so I’m not surprised he’s doing a really good job at Chelsea,” said the German.
“I really think he’s a really good manager. It’s a really exciting team. It reminds me a little bit of my team at Dortmund years back.
“They were really young and people always spoke about that, but they only played because they were that good,” added Klopp.
Lampard, meanwhile, admits he knew Liverpool’s Egyptian star Mohamed Salah was destined for big things when the pair were together at Chelsea.
Salah moved to Stamford Bridge in 2014, but struggled for game time under Jose Mourinho and made just 19 appearances for the club before joining Roma.
Lampard was Salah’s team-mate of for six months before his own Chelsea career came to an end that summer.
The Blues boss now has to find a way of stopping Salah, who has scored 75 goals in 111 appearances since joining Liverpool.
“Unfortunately for Mo, it didn’t work out here, but it is great credit to him. He went to Italy and then came back and now he’s a superstar,” said Lampard.
“As for his path, it’s hard to compare what might have been. The talent was obviously there.
“At the time, I think we had a lot of options in attacking areas. Number 10s, wingers, and he didn’t get as many opportunities for whatever reason, but yes, you could see the talent was there.
“But the player that he is now, or that came back to Liverpool, I think you have to say huge credit is due. You don’t have to search for anything more than look at Mo himself.
“You have to say what professionalism and work ethic, to leave a club like Chelsea is not easy.
“People then cast you aside and say you won’t make it there. He went on to be the superstar he is now. It is completely credit to Mo himself.”
Liverpool will arrive in west London with a 100% record in the Premier League, but Lampard can take confidence from his side’s performance against them in the Super Cup in August.
Chelsea were the better side for much of the game and only lost on penalties after a 2-2 draw in Istanbul.
“For us, it will show us that we can compete with what, on form, are the best team in the country,” said Lampard.
“I know it was early in the season and there are different things to take into account, but I think we more than held ourselves in a good manner and we could have won the game.
“In our opinion we should have won the game if we had taken our chances but every game is a new thing. I think this game is now on its own in front of us.
“We are going up against the best team in the country at the moment,” he added.