Virgil van Dijk is the best centre-back Liverpool have had since Alan Hansen, but the 26-year-old Holland international is better in the air than Alan was. There’s an argument that signing him for £75m from Southampton and selling Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona for £142m has already made Jurgen Klopp’s side stronger.

Liverpool are a free-scoring side, second only to Manchester City — whom they face at Anfield this afternoon — on Premier League goals scored so far, but they need to be better defensively to win trophies. I felt they couldn’t nick games, but they did so against Everton in the FA Cup last week, with Van Dijk heading the winner on his debut. I can see them being able to do that more now,