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There is something different about Anfield and it is not just another shiny new stand.

It is a place where they will never let go of the past, but are now more enthralled by the future.

Jurgen Klopp has seen to that.

At half-time against Stoke on Tuesday, kids from the academy went through their paces out on the pitch.

Kids so young, some of them have not yet decided whether they are goalkeeper or ­goalscorer.

They were all ­introduced to the 53,000 crowd, ­accompanied by a verbal pen picture.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

It would not surprise you if it was Klopp’s idea. If not, it would have had his enthusiastic approval – just as the £40,000 annual salary cap on first-year professionals did.

Klopp could not have made it clearer he is in for the long haul.

There is genuine hope around Liverpool Football Club that he will be one of the great dynastic managers.

Steven Gerrard was, not unusually, in the crowd for that Stoke City game.

Gerrard will be forever ­idolised – a great.

(Image: Getty)

It is, though, a measure of Klopp’s impact that the Gerrard-shaped void, both on and off the pitch, which most supporters imagined, has not materialised.

Gerrard can sit in the stands, even join the coaching staff, and will cast no shadow over Klopp in a similar way to which, unintentionally and unwittingly, Kenny Dalglish did to Roy Hodgson.

But, while Klopp may have an Anfield vision stretching far, the future is also tomorrow.

You suspect this is a ­Liverpool team that has got to where it is faster than even Klopp expected.

It is a team that is now emerging as the likeliest, closest rival to Chelsea for the Premier League title.

(Image: AFP)

Not only can you base that on the current league table – with Liverpool lying six points behind in second – you can base it on Klopp’s record against the accepted elite.

This season, an old Premier League order has been restored.

If you accept – in no ­particular order – Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Spurs to be the Big Six, only five teams outside have won a match against that group.

Everton beat Arsenal, Leicester beat Manchester City, Burnley and ­Bournemouth beat ­Liverpool, Watford beat Manchester United.

All the other defeats among the Big Six have come at the hands of each other. Anyone can beat anyone in the Premier League is actually a bit of a myth.

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If this pattern continues, results of the Big Six head-to-heads will be even more ­decisive than usual.

And Klopp’s results in that sphere since his arrival have been excellent.

In 12 matches against the Big Six, he has lost only once, taking 21 points from 12 matches.

In that period, Arsenal have taken 12 points from 12 games against the Big Six, Manchester City 11 from 12.

Starting on New Year’s Eve, Liverpool have a run of five home matches in which they face Manchester City, Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal.

When Liverpool finished second, three seasons ago, they started 2014 in fifth position, 36 points from 19 games.

No one believed then. Not until late in the game, anyway.

They do now.

Immediate and long-term under Klopp, it’s all about the future at Anfield.