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Steven Gerrard believes Liverpool 's players owe manager Jurgen Klopp a "massive performance" when Premier League leaders Chelsea roll into town on Tuesday.

A wretched January was compounded this week as they followed up Wednesday's EFL Cup exit at the hands of Southampton with a 2-1 defeat at home to Wolves in the FA Cup on Saturday.

After going the previous 12 months unbeaten at Anfield, Klopp has seen his Reds lose their last three at home, and the German tried to take the blame for defeat after the game.

"I am responsible for the line-up, you cannot blame the players for that," he said.

Gerrard however feels that Klopp was merely protecting his players - and he called for them to repay their boss when Antonio Conte's men pitch up at Anfield on Tuesday.

He told BT Sport: "Klopp is protecting them there, but me and [co-analyst Paul Ince] have both been players and they need to regroup quickly.

"The players need to regroup. It’s obvious they have got problems counter attack and they’re about to play the best counter-attacking team in the country.

"It’s crash helmet time for the players. They have to regroup and react quickly and they need a massive performance against Chelsea."

The Reds were goal down inside the first minute as Richard Stearman converted a header, and Andreas Weimann doubled the advantage before the break.

Divock Origi scored a late goal to reduce the deficit after Klopp had sent on Emre Can, Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge.

However, the Championship side withstood a late rally to make it three defeats in a week for the Reds.