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Jurgen Klopp has warned Liverpool they must not allow in-form Chelsea striker Diego Costa to bully them at Stamford Bridge.

The Anfield boss says the Reds’ backline must be combative against the fiery Spain international, who has scored four league goals already this season.

Centre-back Dejan Lovren, who missed the win over Leicester City due to a head injury, is expected to return to the Liverpool team on Friday night alongside Joel Matip.

“Being aggressive is important against Costa,” Klopp said.

“If you are in a friendly game mood then you have no chance.

“He is a real warrior on the pitch. He uses his body all the time – that is his quality. World class.

“He was nearly unstoppable against Swansea. He is strong, no doubt.”

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Costa has sparked plenty of controversy already this season, picking up three yellow cards and being very fortunate to escape further punishment.

He got away with a studs-up challenge on West Ham keeper Adrian before grabbing a late winner. He repeated the trick at Watford after he had dived to try to win a penalty having already been cautioned for dissent.

Costa repeatedly clashed with Swansea’s defenders during last weekend’s 2-2 draw at the Liberty Stadium. He lived on the edge throughout, relishing the confrontation as he scored twice.

The former Atletico Madrid frontman has a short fuse - underlined by the cowardly stamp on Liverpool midfielder Emre Can which led to him being retrospectively banned for three games after the clubs met in the League Cup semi-final in January 2015.

However, Klopp insists trying to provoke Costa won’t be part of his gameplan in the capital.

“It is not part of our preparation,” Klopp added.

“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’.

“Antonio (Conte) has already created a good relationship with him so he is completely different.

“He is in good shape. He is aggressive yes, but I didn’t see until now challenges where you could say it should have been a red card. I thought against Swansea it was more a problem for the two defenders.

“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.”