The Blues already look capable of challenging for the league title under Conte and Klopp believes the London club are now back to their best after a disappointing league campaign last season.
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The Frenchman has slipped in seamlessly into his defensive role for Chelsea and has also been compared to former Blue, Claude Makelele, in his style of play and the job he does for his team.
Lallana emphasised his growing importance to Liverpool with a superb strike in Sunday’s 4-1 rout of Premier League champions Leicester City at a redeveloped Anfield.
Diego Costa has been the player most regularly in the headlines for Chelsea so far this season, having fired four goals to make him the league’s joint-highest scorer after four games.
When asked for his thoughts on Costa, Klopp said: “He’s world class”.
‘That’s what we will do with him, that’s what we will do with Mamadou Sakho and if you want, with Joe Gomez and all the others.
He said that Conte’s men “are a strong side in this moment” and spoke about their performance at Swansea City, where they drew 2-2 last time out, insisting: “Everybody who saw it saw [knows] they could’ve won this game”.
Liverpool and Chelsea played an ill-tempered friendly in the United States in the summer when Cesc Fàbregas was sent off for a poor challenge on the defender Ragnar Klavan. I know about our respect for Chelsea but I am pretty sure from the other side it is exactly the same. It’s a game we’re looking forward to.
But Germany midfielder Emre Can remains absent with an ankle injury.
‘Emre is not injured any more, which is good, but now he needs to train and that’s how it is.
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While Costa has his critics for his antics on the pitch and a reputation for playing the game on the edge, Klopp sees only a top talent his side need to stop, although he has scored just once in four appearances against Liverpool since arriving from Atletico Madrid.
