Van Dijk on Reds' schedule: 'I'm looking forward to every bit of it!'

Liverpool may be facing up to the prospect of seven matches in just 23 days, starting with a trip to Wembley to tackle Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, but Virgil van Dijk isn’t daunted.

In fact, the Netherlands’ skipper’s outlook is quite the opposite – he can’t wait to get stuck into it.

“You need to look forward to it,” Van Dijk told Liverpoolfc.com during a chat at Melwood this week.

“You want to play these games, you want to be under the pressure we’re going to be and you want to play on this stage.

“It’s only good times and I am looking forward to every bit of it. We will see what happens.”

Upcoming fixtures...

Sept 15: Tottenham (a)
Sept 18: PSG (h)
Sept 22: Southampton (h)
Sept 26: Chelsea (h)
Sept 29: Chelsea (a)
Oct 3: Napoli (a)
Oct 7: Man City (h)

The forthcoming fixture list includes the start of the Champions League group stage, with Paris Saint-Germain visiting Anfield next week ahead of a trip to Napoli in early October.

There’s also the Premier League and Carabao Cup double-header with Chelsea, as well as top-flight clashes with Spurs, Southampton and Manchester City.

So, do Liverpool have the squad to cope with such a schedule and maintain the standards they’ve set in the opening weeks of the new season?

“I definitely think so,” Van Dijk states. “I am very confident in our team and in the players we have.

“We have great depth in the squad, so we should be able to keep the same high standards we want to keep.

“We know it is going to be very hard, but we need to give every game 100 per cent, every day 100 per cent, but I am not worried that it won’t happen.”

As mentioned, Spurs are first up for Van Dijk and co and will provide Liverpool with their first test against one of last term’s top-four sides.

“It’ll be a very hard and tough game,” said the No.4. “They’re a very good team, but we are as well.

“It’s going to be very interesting, but I am looking forward to the challenge.”