Jurgen Klopp says he will not be underestimating Manuel Pellegrini's new-look West Ham United when they visit Anfield this weekend.
Pellegrini and his team open their campaign at Liverpool on Sunday lunchtime as two of the Premier League's biggest summer spenders go head-to-head on Merseyside.However Klopp will be taking nothing for granted as he prepares to face a man who he described as one of the most tactically-astute and talented managers in the world.
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"He [Pellegrini] is one of the most successful managers on the planet," said Klopp during his pre-match presser on Friday.
"He know how football goes, he's a really good tactician and a really good coach, so that changes a few things. If you can also bring in a few players who already know about your ideas, it can change.
"If you go through West Ham's team, it's a completely different team - or could be a completely different team. Arnautovic at nine, Yarmolenko the right, Anderson left - or Chicharito as a striker and Arnautovic at ten or on the wing.
"Behind them you have Wilshere and Noble or whoever, a new full back and Cresswell back having been injured for a long time. It's just a good football team and it's how it always is."
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Despite talking up West Ham's revitalised squad, Klopp still expects to mark the first home game of the new campaign with a win and all three points - even though he predicts a real battle.
"They are really ambitious but if it's your first home game, people expect us to win and we expect the same. But we know, between now and then, there will be 95 brutal minutes, we have to be ready for that. That's how it is.
"But it's easy NOT to underestimate West Ham."
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