Pep Lijnders has warned Liverpool must respect Leicester City ahead of the Carabao Cup clash between the teams on Wednesday evening.
Liverpool begin their Carabao Cup campaign against the Foxes tomorrow night, who have taken an early lead at the top of the Championship table following their top-flight relegation last term.
Leicester are under the management of former Manchester City coach Enzo Maresca this season and Liverpool assistant Lijnders believes the Reds will face a team full of Premier League quality.
“We know we are going to play against a team that has a lot of quality, shown with how they are doing in the league,” Linjders told a pre-match press conference.
“This coach [Enzo Maresca] does an unbelievable job and I think each of them could play in the Premier League.
“It will be hard for us to deal with their players and also put them under pressure.
“As always, we will focus on ourselves. We will make changes but we want to be dominant and be in their half of the pitch. We need to stop them so the best way to do that is to high press. We have to defend and respect them.”
Lijnders provided an injury update on Liverpool and confirmed Thiago Alcantara is nearing a return, though the clash with Leicester will come too soon for Trent Alexander-Arnold.
“We missed Thiago, his qualities, He controls the middle, keeps the ball and we want him back in training. He is still not back in training but he is healing and he is individually on the pitch doing exercises on the pitch already. Time will tell.
“Trent, he was training yesterday in rondos and counter-pressing and he looked outstanding. But tomorrow comes too early for him.”
