Jurgen Klopp insists Liverpool are not thinking about the Premier League title race.
For a third consecutive year, the reigning champions saw in Christmas at the summit and hold a four-point lead over nearest challengers Leicester City.
The end to the Reds’ 30-year domestic drought last season has led to a strong belief that they will conceivably win back-to-back crowns this term.
But ahead of Sunday’s visit of West Bromwich Albion, Klopp is adamant that talk of challenging for the title has not entered the Anfield dressing room.
He said: “Honestly, we don’t think about challenging for the title in the moment – not at all.
“I know it’s kind of boring but it’s the truth. We just try to make sure we are as competitive in the next game.
“[Usually] you win a game which is great, the best feeling you can get, and usually a couple of days later you play again.
“We try to use that really to prepare for the next few games, probably not for the rest of the season but the next few games.
“I don’t know anything about advantage or disadvantage in this situation.
“If you are completely surprised at being top of the league in April people might say ‘With a little bit more experience, you can do it’.
“We are not that far now and if we are in March or April in this position we can talk about it differently. But if we are 2-3 points ahead it doesn’t make much sense.
“Being successful in the past can have different kind of influences. My boys did not have enough yet and for sure want more but it doesn’t make it more likely.
“It just means we created so far a basis and we have to create much more of it to use it in the end.”