Chelsea 1 Liverpool 3: Jurgen Klopp asks if journalist is 'crazy' for talking of Premier League title assault

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Jurgen Klopp asked if a journalist was “crazy” for suggesting that Liverpool could be title contenders after their 3-1 victory over Chelsea on Saturday earned the German manager his first Premier League victory since taking the reins at Anfield.

Klopp looked on from the sidelines as two goals from Philippe Coutinho and a third from Christian Benteke cancelled out Ramires’s opener and earned the Reds three points to lift them to seventh in the table – and heap further misery on the Blues and their under-pressure manager Jose Mourinho.

The Liverpool manager was immediately asked afterwards if the result put Liverpool back in the title picture, although the Merseyside outfit sit eight points of Manchester City and Arsenal – the Gunners trailing on goal difference alone. Klopp’s response was a stern and comical one, but demonstrated that the former Borussia Dortmund head coach is refusing to get ahead of himself after two wins in a week.

"Are you crazy? You think after one win at Chelsea we should think about this?" Klopp answered when probed over his title aspirations.

"I've been here three weeks, round about. We don't think about this. We have to think about the next game, about improving our game and our style. We can do much better than today."

Klopp will have been pleased to see Benteke back from injury to help ease his concerns in attack. Daniel Sturridge remains unavailable and given his recent injury troubles, Klopp could be set to prepare for life without him for longer than expected, while the German has so far shown a reluctance to play Belgium striker Divock Origi.

With Benteke only fit enough to start from the bench, Klopp handed the responsibility to lead the line to Brazilian Roberto Firmino, but the manager was quick to praise the performance from all of his players and believes the result was fully justified.

"We had our moments - our build-up with short passes was very good,” he said. “They tried to make pressure but we could play in the spaces in between.

"I feel[the win] is deserved. We have worked hard but it's normal if you want to win in Chelsea."