Virgil van Dijk: With the three points we end an intense series on a high

“Of course we keep going, we keep working and we are never satisfied,” the captain continued. “We can always improve.

“I think today we needed Ali twice, maybe three times, and we're trying to avoid that. But if we have to defend, we have to defend with everything we have.”

“Everyone contributes to keeping a clean sheet, but I’m also very happy with a goal.”

After such a strong start to the campaign, Van Dijk is refusing to look too far ahead and will continue to tune out any external noise.

He ended by saying: “Listen, I think there are always expectations for different teams. Whatever the outside world thinks about us, we don’t really care.”

“We want to improve, we want to challenge, we want to compete and win and be successful until the last day. That’s what we focus on – not what other expectations are. But we have scored a lot of points so far.” We want to have a lot more.

“We know how difficult the fixture list will be after the international break but why not enjoy it? I’m really looking forward to it and hopefully everyone involved with Liverpool too.”