Burnley stopper reflects on Jurgen Klopp's "Liverpool versus Nick Pope" claims after last season's Anfield stalemate!

The German coach waxed lyrical about the goalkeeper's display after the hosts dropped points at home for the first time in 25 games.

The champions, who went ahead courtesy of a Andy Robertson header in the first half, registered their most attempts on goal (23) without winning a Premier League game since December 2017 [against Everton].

The England international made a string of saves to keep the visitors in it - with those to deny Mo Salah and Sadio Mane the pick of the bunch - before Jay Rodriguez netted the equaliser.

It was a performance that rivalled Tom Heaton's heroics at Old Trafford in 2016 and one that Pope is immensely proud of.

The 28-year-old, who made his full debut in the top flight at the Reds' iconic stadium, said: "I think I played quite well!"It was great, but if Jay Rodriguez doesn’t score and we lose 2 or 3 nil, or even 1-0, it doesn’t get spoken about half as much. I suppose I’m indebted to him!

"As any goalkeeper or player will tell you, if you play well but get beat, you don’t take much home with you.

"But to make a couple of saves and feel like I contributed to a point at Anfield - the only point that was taken off them at Anfield last season - was enjoyable."

Sean Dyche's side were a whisker away from inflicting Liverpool's first defeat on their own turf since Palace in April 2017 when Johann Berg Gudmundsson's strike crashed against the crossbar late on.

However, the away side, who conceded 70% of possession last summer, will be massive outsiders to repeat that feat on this occasion, even with Liverpool's slight dip in form.

The title-holders are without a win in four league games and haven't found the net in their last three - a run which has seen them slip to fourth in the table.

Asked if Liverpool's aura of invincibility had slipped at all, Pope replied: "No, I don’t think so. I think that’s the story of the Premier League this season.

"If you look at the top six, seven, eight and how tight it is, I think a number of factors have led to that involving the mad year that has gone on.

"I don’t think it was ever going to be a year where a team won the title by 20 or 30 points. It was just not going to happen. I think that’s part and parcel of it.

"You say they might have lost it but they’re still unbeaten at Anfield in a long period of time so it doesn’t look like it’s rubbed off too much."

He added: "They are going through a spell at the minute but it doesn’t make it an easy place to go, it is definitely going to be a tough game whatever form Liverpool are in. If you go to Anfield it is going to be tough.

"I don’t think there is any danger of us taking Liverpool lightly. They have scored one in four and you kind of think there will be goals around the corner.

"I don’t think we will be looking in four games time and they have only scored one more. I think we have got to be wary of that.

"Going into the game we cannot take them lightly or look at them less so than we did last season when we went to Anfield and they were already champions.

"The mindset and attitude we have to have is the same as last season. We have to be confident. We are going around the PL to different grounds in a much better place than a couple of years ago.

"We are kind of thinking we can get points anywhere. We have that attitude, we show no fear. We'll look to protect our goal, attack with freedom and try to get points out of the game."