'We played like hell' - Klopp revels in Liverpool show

Dejan Lovren and Jordan Henderson led the Anfield club to victory with a brilliant first-half display, and their manager affirmed that he was delighted with the showing.

Jurgen Klopp said Liverpool "played football like hell" in their 2-1 Premier League victory over Chelsea on Friday.

The Reds put in an impressive performance at Stamford Bridge, taking a two-goal lead through Dejan Lovren and Jordan Henderson, who scored a sensational effort from 25 yards.

Diego Costa pulled one back for Chelsea in the 61st minute, but they failed to register a shot on target after the Spain international fired straight at Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet four minutes later.

Liverpool comfortably saw out their second successive win at Stamford Bridge, inflicting Antonio Conte's first competitive defeat since taking over at the Blues in the process.

Klopp enjoyed the way his team played football in the first half, but wants to see them control matches throughout the 90 minutes.

"We deserved the lead. We stopped playing how we needed at some points and Chelsea got back into it. We need to learn how we can manage the game with power and 100 per cent concentration," he told Sky Sports.

"We did it really well after they scored. So often Chelsea score in the last few seconds but I don't think they created much and we did well.

"Chelsea are too strong not to have space throughout the game, but in the beginning we were brilliant. We played football like hell and it was brilliant to watch, it was wonderful.

"In the second half it was getting more difficult, with less power, but after they scored their goal we managed it well and they didn't have many chances again.

"I told the lads before the game anything can happen, but if we lose we must lose in our way. There's no guarantee in football."

James Milner once again featured out of position at left-back but Klopp believes his team have proved critics of their activity in the previous transfer window wrong.

"Two weeks ago everybody was asking what's wrong with Liverpool in the transfer market – why have they not got five midfielders and eight new left-backs – but now these boys are starting in one of the most difficult fixtures in football, and we deserve the result tonight," he added.

The Liverpool boss also offered praise for captain Henderson, saying: "He's such a hard worker, he's a young lad with a lot of pressure on his shoulders.

"I don't think that he thought before the season that he'd be playing [at number] six but he's a good player and he can play anywhere."

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For 20 minutes at the start of the second half, Arsene Wenger's frown had shown more resolve at the Emirates Stadium than his Arsenal side, the Frenchman shaking his head every so often, before despairingly resting it on the palm of his hand. In those moments on the opening weekend of the season, when Liverpool's attacking blur was so dizzying and so destructive, the hosts and their manager were utterly helpless.

The Reds celebrated prematurely after Sadio Mane's solo stunner, their fourth of the afternoon - "opening the door" for Arsenal's fightback, as per Jurgen Klopp's assertion - but the Merseysiders held on for a 4-3 victory.

Fast forward two weeks and, at White Hart Lane, Mauricio Pochettino cut a relieved figure as an

Klopp taunts 'long ball' Arsenal ahead of Premier League curtain-raiser

The Reds manager believes that Arsene Wenger relies heavily on aerial deliveries to Olivier Giroud, and sees that as the Gunners' main threat

Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp has raised the temperature ahead of his team's Premier League opener against Arsenal, suggesting Sunday's opponents have adopted a more direct style. 

Arsene Wenger's teams have long been famous for their short, incisive passing, a reputation that has stayed with the veteran French manager. 

But the Reds boss believes that the 2016 Arsenal are rather more straightforward in their playing style. 

“I think everyone who saw the game saw the difference between this game and all the other Arsenal games," he said in a press conference, referring to the team's 3-3 draw in 2015-16. 

“But in the last few years Arsenal had a more direct style. They have only good football players but at the end they don’t use all of them in each build up or each offensive movement - it is a myth.

"It is definitely a plan and they want to win games.”

Klopp believes that dealing with the "long balls" fed into the Gunners' target man will be the key for his team.

 “Arsenal is usually a football playing team but last time against us there was a lot of long balls and always to Olivier Giroud," he explained. 

“The second ball was to Ozil, they caused us a lot of problems in this game. That was a big threat on that day.

“We knew about it because a lot of teams chose this way against us so it we could have defended better.

“It was not about what they did, it was about how they did it because it was with the highest quality how Giroud and Mesut Ozil, especially, on this day performed.”