Virgil van Dijk makes claim ahead of Man City v Liverpool FC

Liverpool FC defender Virgil van Dijk Photo: Virgil van Dijk / Instagram

Virgil van Dijk has opened up about Liverpool FC’s soaring confidence levels ahead of their trip to defending Premier League champions Manchester City on Thursday night.

The Reds will make the short trip to The Etihad in pursuit of a eight successive Premier League victory to further stretch their lead at the top of the table.

Liverpool FC are seven points ahead of Manchester City at the top of the table after the Citizens lost to Chelsea FC, Crystal Palace and Leicester City in December.

Jurgen Klopp’s side have managed to remain unbeaten and only Arsenal, Chelsea FC and Manchester City have been able to take points off the Reds in the current campaign.

Manchester City were close to beating Liverpool FC at Anfield earlier this season after Van Dijk conceded a late penalty but Riyad Mahrez missed the subsequent spot-kick.

Van Dijk, who moved to Liverpool FC from Southampton in a £75m deal in January 2018, insisted that the Reds would not be treating the top of the table clash any different to a regular Premier League game.

“We can now focus on the City game. Before we didn’t do that. Arsenal had been playing pretty well this season so we had to stay focused on them, not think about City,” Van Dijk told Liverpool FC’s website.

“We have finished 2018 now pretty well and hopefully we can keep that going.

“City is a game that we want to win. It will be very hard, very tough, but for them as well. It’s going be a good match, but it is not a decisive game or something like that. We are not going to treat it different to any other.

“We will be prepared for a very tough game. Confidence is definitely here, but it can change over a couple of games. We won’t get carried away. We need to keep doing what we have been doing.

“There will be setbacks, as there always is in life, but it’s how you react and so far we have been doing pretty well.

“There are things to improve, but we are top of the league, still in the Champions League, and we are doing well, we just need to keep going.”

Liverpool FC have eased to Premier League victories over Everton, Burnley, Bournemouth, Manchester United, Wolves, Newcastle and Arsenal during the festive schedule.

The Reds were 2-1 winners against Manchester City on their last visit to The Etihad.

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