Liverpool are on an incredible run of form but manager Jurgen Klopp knows they have to improve their record on the road against top-six rivals.
The Reds may have lost just one of their last 44 league matches, taking a remarkable 115 points from a possible 132, but they have encountered recent struggles away from Anfield against the top sides.
In their previous 12 away matches at Chelsea, both Manchester clubs, Tottenham and Arsenal they have returned with just one three-point haul.
That is something of a turnaround from the 2016-17 season when they won two and drew three of their trips to the top six.
“Obviously there are different ways to win away games, and we have to find one. It’s not good news, this stat, but I don’t feel it,” said Klopp, whose side are looking to set a new club record of seven successive league away wins.
“In 2016, we took points from all the top six and then had other problems, so that’s how life is.
“The longer things like this happen, the more likely it will change. We go there to get a result.
“We cannot go to Chelsea and want a guarantee that you win the game, they are just too strong for that.
“Obviously we have a job do but we will prepare for the game without that stat. It’s all about the quality of the performance.
“It is not written in the stars that we are not allowed to win at Chelsea but it is obviously difficult.”
Chelsea’s last home league defeat came last December and their 11-match unbeaten run at Stamford Bridge includes six clean sheets, although none of those has yet come under Frank Lampard’s leadership.
The former Blues midfielder is still carving out a career as a fledgling manager but Klopp has been impressed with how he has made the step up from Derby last season.
Lampard’s transition has not been helped by the club’s transfer ban but his opposite number at Liverpool praised the way he has coped so far and sees similarities with his own past.
“It’s not my job to talk about other managers but he did an outstanding job at Derby, so I’m not surprised he’s doing a really good job at Chelsea,” said the German, whose side have already beaten the Blues – on penalties – in last month’s European Super Cup.
“I really think he’s a really good manager. It’s a really exciting team. It reminds me a little bit of my team at Dortmund years back.
“They were really young and people always spoke about that, but they only played because they were that good.
“If there was one club in the world where a transfer ban didn’t hit that bad, it was probably Chelsea because of the transfer policy in the last few years with these players, high quality players, on loan.
“They are just a good team, they have all my respect. They are a proper contender for everything. Now we play there and we want to get something.”
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