Jürgen Klopp has insisted that he's surprised by Liverpool's poor record against their top-six rivals in recent years, but added that he believes the club's success in Europe could offer an explanation.
Liverpool have won just one of their last 12 matches away at top-six sides, a 2-1 win over Tottenham last September, picking up nine points from a possible 36.
Although Klopp admitted that's a 'surprising' record given their performances during that time, he claimed Liverpool's success in the Champions League over the last two seasons could explain why results away from home against top-six rivals have been dropping off.
"Performance-wise, that’s why it’s so surprising," Klopp said, quoted by The Guardian. "I cannot remember all these games but I know we were often close to winning these games. There was one at Arsenal where we should have won when Virgil [van Dijk] had two no-brainers that he didn’t score, the header against the post.
"Against Man City, we lost last year but that is not a match you lose usually. The margins at the end were so small with the ball not over the line.
“But these are results over an intense period. We were always the [Premier League] club that was in the Champions League the longest. We lost 1-0 at Chelsea two seasons ago when we came from a Champions League game and they were not involved any more. That helps.
"The last game we won at Tottenham was pretty early in the season. That makes it all different. We played against Arsenal early in the season.
"It was one of the best games for a while and we did really well in that game. So let’s just keep going and we will see what happens. It is not an obvious problem."
As well as Sunday's trip to Stamford Bridge, Liverpool travel to face Manchester United just after a two-week international break before the end of next month.
They'll have five matches across all competitions before then, however, including against MK Dons in the Carabao Cup and FC Salzburg on matchday two in the Champions League group stages.
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