LONDON • Jurgen Klopp is doing his best to remain positive, but September has been a miserable month for Liverpool and rapid improvement is needed at Leicester City today.

Klopp's side finished last month in high spirits with a convincing 4-0 victory over Arsenal, but four matches since then have brought no victories and a League Cup exit against Leicester in midweek.

Leicester were good value in Tuesday's 2-0 victory over the Reds, who have fallen off the pace in the Premier League and begin the weekend in eighth place, five points behind the leaders.

But Klopp has rejected claims that his players are soft and there is evidence to support him. They came back from conceding first to draw 1-1 at home to Burnley in the league last weekend, three days after making a similar recovery as they drew 2-2 with Sevilla at Anfield in the Champions League.

However, the real concern is the Reds' weakness in defence. They have let in 10 goals in their last four matches, and have not been helped by Dejan Lovren's withdrawal from their last two games.

Lovren remains a doubt for today, while fellow centre-back Joel Matip and midfielder Emre Can are also struggling with minor knocks, suggesting that Klopp's options may be restricted once more after he had made eight changes on Tuesday.

Leicester winger Marc Albrighton is wary of treating the League Cup success as an indicator of possible joy in the league, especially since he expects most of the big guns to return today.

"We have to take confidence from (our win) that we can put pressure on them and create chances. They'll come with a bit of a revenge mission I'm sure," said Albrighton.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

LEICESTER V LIVERPOOL

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