Jurgen Klopp urges Liverpool to be aggressive to stop Chelsea striker Diego Costa

Danger man: Diego Costa
JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images
Sam Long15 September 2016

Jurgen Klopp believes Liverpool will have no chance of stopping Chelsea striker Diego Costa if his side is in a "friendly mood" on Friday night.

Liverpool travel to Stamford Bridge tomorrow aiming to climb into the top four and end Antonio Conte's side's unbeaten start to the season in the process.

However, the Blues are in fine form and boast the joint-second best attack in the division, with their impressive return in front of goal largely down to Costa's hot streak.

Costa has scored four goals already this season and has thrived in a number of fiery encounters against Liverpool in recent years, with Klopp adamant his players need to restrict the Spain international's influence on the game.

“Being aggressive is important against Costa. If you are in a friendly game mood then you have no chance," Klopp insisted.

Costa's combative style often threatens to boil over and the 27-year-old landed himself in hot water for a stamp on former Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel in the Capital One Cup last season.

But Klopp has ruled out provoking Costa in an effort to gain an advantage and is wary that the striker if not Chelsea's only threat.

“It is not part of our preparation. I never said in my life to a team: ‘he’s always close to a red card, do whatever you can so that he gets it’.

“There will be hard challenges, but it is not about having a one-on-one fight the whole 90 minutes and then saying: ‘I took him out of the game’.

“Taking Diego out of the game makes sense but even then our players can create moments so there are a lot more things to do than only think about Diego Costa,” Klopp added.

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