'It will be interesting' - Klopp previews Crystal Palace test
Jürgen Klopp is anticipating a fired-up Crystal Palace and home crowd when Liverpool travel to Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon.
The Reds return to Premier League action following the international break with a test against Roy Hodgson's 12th-place side.
The Eagles' determined mindset and threat in the final third leaves Klopp fully aware his players will need to be at their best in order to secure three points.
"It's their quality," the boss said at his pre-match press conference. "Their home games are pretty special because it's a really nice atmosphere there, they make it difficult.
"It's a special place to go, 100 per cent, and they have the quality. They had not the most spectacular transfer window maybe in the summer, but working longer together and knowing more about each other can improve squads as well, especially with such an experienced manager like Roy is. That works really well.
"They had a really good start in the season but with the opponents they had it was not that clear like somebody would imagine. They made it tough for everyone.
"I saw the Leicester game, the full 90 minutes, and from other games I saw summaries. They are now working longer together, you can see the patterns are more obvious - how they defend, how they counter. That makes it difficult anyway.
"Nobody expects from Crystal Palace, even in a home game, that they will have 70, 80 per cent possession against us. So they enjoy defending compact and then know that they are a proper threat in the counter-attack. That makes it really tough with the quality they have.
"When you think about Zaha, Townsend and then Ayew in a counter-attack, it's really tough to defend and we have to find solutions for that. It will be interesting."
Liverpool head to south London as league leaders with an eight-point lead over Leicester City, who currently occupy second place.
Despite the standings, Klopp insists his squad remain firmly committed to taking each game as it comes.
"We don't think about the title race. The biggest challenge for us is constantly facing questions about it," Klopp continued.
"Apart from that, so far it's a normal season. We never made it the season where we have to or whatever, it's just a season we are in. We play as good as we can, we try to get as many points as we can.
"The challenges are the 26 games we have to play and the next one is Crystal Palace.
"Everyone will realise it's a challenge and these challenges are big enough, so you don't need any others and we don't think about anything else."