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Joe Allen has put his excellent early season form down to learning from Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana during his time at Anfield.

The Welshman made a £13m move to Stoke City in the summer after he found game time hard to come by under Jurgen Klopp.

Playing with the likes of Coutinho and Lallana at Liverpool, along with Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey at international level, the Wales international said it was vital to learn from them.

“It’s natural for any player to do that,” he said of learning from them.

“With Wales you’ve got the likes of Gaz and Aaron and there is so much you can learn from them, but also the players I was fortunate enough to play with at Liverpool.

“Players like Coutinho and Lallana have played in a similar sort of role to the one I’m playing now - you try to pick up a thing or two from them and that’s what I’ve tried to do.”

At Liverpool Allen was utilised at the base of the midfield. Since his move to Stoke, the 26-year-old is being deployed in a more advanced position and is reaping the rewards for the Potters. He has netted four times in the last five games and has two assists this season.

He was brought to Anfield by Brendan Rodgers, his former manager at Swansea City, who hailed him as “the Welsh Xavi”.

Failing to live up to the big billing that the Northern Irishman gave him, Allen fell behind the wealth of talent in midfield.

Klopp’s men are showing terrific form this season, much like Allen, but the midfielder decided the time was right to make the move away from Merseyside.

“I enjoyed my time at Liverpool and learned so much but it was time to move on,” he added.

“There is so much quality in a team like that and you have to find a new challenge.

“I was excited about coming to a club like Stoke and staking a claim for a place but I was confident I had a lot to bring to this team and I could be an important player for them.

“I think that makes all the difference to you when you’re maybe given a bit more responsibility and licence to express yourself a bit more.”

Both Mark Hughes and television pundit Jamie Carragher joked Allen, who had scored only five times for club and country over the previous three seasons, was experiencing a drought having gone two games without scoring.

But with six goals already for Stoke and Wales this term, Allen does not believe his early season scoring spell is an anomaly.

“I think everyone knows that the goalscoring record I’ve had in the past has not been the best but I maintain the confidence that if I’m asked to play further forward I can get into positions where I will chip in with a few,” he claimed.

“I believe this isn’t just a flash in the pan and I can keep this consistency going.”