“We Have to be The Best Version of Ourselves Against West Ham” — Klopp

Ahead of Liverpool’s clash against West Ham, at Anfield on Sunday, Jurgen Klopp is expecting an extremely strong opposition from the David Moyes-led team, and he has urged his side to put on their best version.

The Reds will be looking to extend their unbeaten start in the Premier League this season, but Klopp believes his side might suffer a loss if they don’t put up their best performance on Sunday.

Speaking to the press in his pre-match conference, the German manager relishes his side’s bright start to the campaign, having garnered 13 points from their opening 5 league games so far.

“I enjoy the moment. From the first day since we are back, I enjoyed it a lot. I was really excited about the rebuild, I was really excited about the boys, the new way, the new energy,” Klopp said.

He added: “We decided last year already that we have to change a lot – but that we want to change it for good and not because we have to. Yeah, I’m really excited about that and still am.

“That’s it. We are really not there, we are not stable yet, so many things not – but we are a lot of things already. A lot of exciting moments in the games and I think that’s a good start, not more. But as a start, it’s absolutely OK.”

Speaking on the development in his team, and Sunday’s game against West Ham, the 56-year-old continued: “I don’t know, I don’t know where we are exactly because we showed these kind of different phases.

“But obviously the things we went through now already in this season, that’s usually enough for a whole season if you have done these things after 38 games, and we have it after five – twice red card, 10 men, turning games and these things. And now [we] did it again, played a really bad half and a very good half and turned it around again [against Wolverhampton Wanderers].

“Again, it’s not what you plan, it’s not what you want. But when you have it, you have to go through it and that’s what we did. So, it shows just the boys already together in a manner and in an extent we probably didn’t expect that early.

“That’s it. I cannot make any kind of estimate at all on how it will look in the next four or five weeks. The only thing I can do is work extremely hard to make it as positive as somehow possible.

“But there are so many extremely strong opponents – West Ham is one of them when you see them. Really exciting project as well. I’m happy for David that he really built this team now over a few years.

“Even with Declan Rice out, they look really good, I have to say. [James] Ward-Prowse, super signing. [Lucas] Paqueta is not a new signing but is a super player. With all the other guys they had already, it looks really solid and that makes it really tricky. And then we have all the other teams – top four, five, six, plus, plus, plus.

“The way you want to start, the way you want to end, the league is extremely strong. It’s good for the people but it means for us we have to be the best version of ourselves.”

Liverpool who defeated LASK 3-1 in the Europa League on Thursday will welcome Virgil Dijk back to the squad after the Dutchman missed the last two league games through suspension.