Cape Town - Liverpool centre-back Virgil van Dijk believes it's vital for the team to remain focused on their own game and not let the media hype distract them.

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Jurgen Klopp's charges have already been touted as real challengers to dethrone Pep Guardiola's star-studded Premier League champions Manchester City this season.

The Reds made a convincing start to their campaign on Sunday as they thrashed West Ham United 4-0 at Anfield, but Van Dijk wants to see his teammates keep their heads down and avoid getting carried away with the optimism surrounding the Merseyside outfit.

"We've seen the media writing about us as the new champions and stuff but we don't really look at those things. We need to just focus game by game," said the former Southampton defender, according to Liverpool's official website.

"We want to do well. We want to achieve greater things so we need to be ready for any challenge, any battle that comes to us.

"We are very well prepared, we were looking forward to this game and I think everyone could see it.

"For us it is key that we don't look too much at other teams. We need to look at ourselves and be ready every week for any opponent we face. That is key at the moment."