Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp relishing joust with ‘football maniac’ Arsene Wenger

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has expressed his admiration for “football maniac” Arsene Wenger ahead of the Reds’ clash with Arsenal tonight.

Wenger’s Gunners visit Anfield as the Premier League leaders at the start of a year which marks the 20th anniversary of the Frenchman’s arrival in north London.

English football’s longest-serving boss was already held in high esteem by the man who will line up in the opposite dugout, but Klopp’s appreciation of Wenger’s work has only grown since he joined him in the division back in October.

“My respect goes up day by day because it’s really intensive to work in the Premier League, especially in a team with international matches (for their players) too,” the Reds manager said.

“He had always my biggest respect but now it’s a little bit bigger since I’m here.

“That’s really a brilliant job he’s done – 19-and-a-half years.

“He’s a high-quality manager, one of the best in the world for sure.

“This long period, it’s really rare that you can do this but he did.

“He’s a football maniac, in the best (sense of the word).

“It was always a challenge to play against him and again a challenge that I’m looking forward to.”

Klopp and Wenger have become well acquainted with each other in recent years, having met in the Champions League group stages in 2011, 2013 and 2014 when the former managed Borussia Dortmund.

The Arsenal boss claimed three wins to Klopp’s two after the first meeting finished all square, but the German will hope his excellent record against sides flying high in the Premier League will stand Liverpool in good stead ahead of a week that concludes with Manchester United’s visit.

As well as defeating Leicester and drawing at Tottenham, the Reds’ dominant away wins over Manchester City and Chelsea have proved to Klopp that his players can produce in big games.

“After 10 minutes at Chelsea it was a very, very good away game and from the first second against City,” he noted.

“The main information we should take out of these two matches is we have to be really good. If we are good, then it could fit for this game of course.

“But Arsenal, together with City, are the two best teams at this moment in the Premier League. To stay in a good position against Man City, they need all the points, they cannot (pick and choose) where they want to get it.

“They will show us that they have real ambitions this year. They’re in a good moment.

“We can be, we’re not that consistent in the performances in the last weeks but (the 1-0 win over) Stoke was a good sign of what my team is capable of.”

Liverpool yesterday announced the loan signing of QPR centre-back Steven Caulker in time to play in tonight’s game.

Klopp was keen to bring in defensive reinforcements this month after hamstring injuries to Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren left him short of options.

A deal for the 24-year-old, who had been on loan at Southampton, was finalised swiftly meaning he is eligible for selection to face Arsenal.

However, Kolo Toure (cramp) and Mamadou Sakho (knee) both look likely to be fit to face the Gunners, so the best Caulker can hope for is a place on the bench.

He has made just eight appearances for Southampton this season – the last of which came against Liverpool in last month’s 6-1 Capital One Cup quarter-final defeat – but only one of those was a Premier League start, back in August.

On that basis his loan deal was cancelled, allowing him to make the move to Merseyside.

“We looked for Premier League experience because in this short time, you need that experience,” Klopp said.

“We looked for a good header [of the ball] because that’s what we need - we want to play good pressing, we want to press the opponent and so they have to play long balls.

“If they play long balls, you need people in the last line who can help you with headers and we’ve found it with Steven Caulker.

“He was not in the best situation in Southampton, didn’t play too much, but this is January and we want to have the best solution for us and we are convinced that Steven is the best solution for us.”

Midweek movers?

The midweek Premier League fixtures list has thrown up an intriguing set of matches which could have significant bearing on the top of the table.

In-form Arsenal could go five points clear at the top of the table by beating Liverpool, if Man City fail to beat Everton and neighbours Tottenham win at home to Leicester.

Arsenal have won on three of their last six visits to Anfield, but suffered a dramatic 5-1 defeat in 2014.

Man City can also return to the summit with a win over Everton at the Etihad Stadium.

City have already won 2-0 at Goodison in the league, but trail Everton 2-1 after the Goodison leg of the sides’ Capital One Cup tie.

After stunning the Premier League in the first half of the campaign, Leicester need to kickstart 2016, having gone four games without a win, including Sunday’s FA Cup draw at tonight’s opponents Tottenham.

A win could also leapfrog the Foxes into top spot, but the right set of results could also propel Spurs right into the title mix.