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'I feel amazing!' - Virgil van Dijk waves away fatigue concerns as Liverpool enter busy festive period

van Dijk feeling fresh heading into the festive period: AFP/Getty Images
van Dijk feeling fresh heading into the festive period: AFP/Getty Images

Virgil van Dijk has dismissed suggestions that he might be feeling the pace of a relentless start to the season for club and country, insisting: "I feel amazing!"

The Dutchman has missed just one of Liverpool's 22 fixtures thus far - a League Cup defeat to Chelsea at Anfield in late September.

And with Joe Gomez out for six weeks due to a leg fracture and Dejan Lovren having recently suffered concussion, Vthe Van Dijk's workload is unlikely to ease during the hectic festive fixture schedule.

However, when asked if a busy run has taken its toll, he replied: "I feel amazing. If there’s a game you are going to be ready anyway, and in the profession that we do you need to do everything possible to get yourself ready and that’s what I’m doing.

"I play and then after the game it’s all about recovery: making sure you eat the right things and rest.

"It’s difficult but at the end of the day when you are out there on the pitch, you forget about these things."

Liverpool hit the summit of the Premier League over the weekend as they capitalised on Manchester City's defeat to Chelsea by beating Bournemouth in comfortable fashion.

But Van Dijk is staying grounded for one reason: there is a still a long way to go in the title race.

He added: "We didn’t speak about it too much together.

"Obviously you get messages, you see all these things on the internet and stuff so that’s the only thing.

"But we know that the season is very long – it could change next week, or in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully it doesn’t change, but you never know."

The 27-year-old is also preoccupied with Tuesday's decisive Champions League group-stage meeting with Napoli, which he compared with a final.

"I think it’s a totally different game tomorrow, it’s a different situation," he continued.

"It’s basically like a final for us - obviously we need to win and hopefully don’t concede and if we do, we need to win by a lot of goals, so that’s it.

"Obviously we should have confidence in our situation in the Premier League, but that’s the only thing, I think."