Virgil van Dijk is refusing to take Manchester City’s recent slip-ups for granted.
The reigning Premier League champions sit five points behind Liverpool after Saturday’s defeat at Brighton marked a fourth straight loss in all competitions.
Arne Slot’s side, meanwhile, racked up a ninth win from their opening 11 top-flight games by seeing off Champions League counterparts Aston Villa.
But Van Dijk remains wary of the Reds’ current advantage due to City’s penchant for producing their own emphatic run of victories in recent years.
He said: “Listen, we can’t deny that [it raised expectations]. Their result was announced in the stadium, but it’s still so early in the season.
“We’ve seen them over the years put together crazy runs of winning games and being so consistent.
“Now they have some injuries and are in a bit of a difficult period but things can turn quickly.
“We shouldn’t focus on any of that and I don’t think we do. That’s something we can’t control.
“Let’s see what the coming weeks bring.”
Liverpool’s win over Villa continued a theme under Slot this season where they remained in control of the game rather than chasing a late deciding goal.
“When you win games in the last minute it’s quite nice as well,” admitted Van Dijk.
“You think of the scenes when we played Villa away a few years ago and Sadio (Mane) scored. Or Wolves away [in 2021].
“But you want to control games in a better way and we did that well today.
“We kept the ball. They were maybe a bit tired and their press was not the best towards the end. It’s about finding the right and the spare man. Let them run.
“You can speak about it but to actually do it under pressure is difficult. We’ll keep working on that.”