'We won’t underestimate West Ham'
Emre Can has promised Liverpool won't underestimate the threat posed by West Ham United during today's Barclays Premier League meeting at Anfield.
Slaven Bilic's side travel to Merseyside having suffered defeat in two of their three league fixtures so far this term.
However, they evidenced their danger by earning a 2-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates on the opening day of the new campaign.
As a result, Can is wary of the prospect of not showing enough respect to the Hammers, and is preaching the need for patience if a goal does not come early on for the hosts.
"We want to beat West Ham, we want to compete at the top of the league and that’s what we’ll set out to do," he told Liverpoolfc.com.
"At the same time, we won’t underestimate West Ham.
"They played very well in their first game when they beat Arsenal, but I think we have to look at our performance and then we can get the win.
"You have to be patient if the score is 0-0 for a long time. You have to be disciplined and try to create chances to score that first goal.
"But we do have to be patient as long as it is 0-0."
Of the 30 Premier League fixtures played so far in 2015-16, just six have ended in victory for the home side.
Can believes that is evidence of the ultra-competitive nature of the English top-flight, which underlines why he won't be taking West Ham lightly.
"I’ve often said that there are no easy games in the Premier League," he continued.
"We saw that two weeks ago against Bournemouth. They played very well and it was typical end-to-end stuff.
"Premier League games are all hard and that’s why it’s the best league in the world."