Cole Palmer makes honest Anfield claim ahead of Liverpool vs Chelsea that 'everyone knows'

Cole Palmer has acknowledged the power of Anfield as he gears up to take on Liverpool on Sunday . The playmaker has arguably been the best player in the Premier League so far this season, but Chelsea will face its toughest test of the Enzo Maresca era this weekend.

Liverpool is sitting pretty at the top of the table after winning six of its opening seven matches under Arne Slot, with the Dutchman seemingly having the skipped the transitional period that he was expected to go through after replacing Jurgen Klopp in the summer.

Klopp's last Premier League game against Chelsea ended with the Reds recording an emphatic 4-1 victory and Palmer admitted Chelsea's players will need to manage the occasion this time around. "I just remember the Anfield crowd from our last game there," Palmer told club media.

• Liverpool manager Arne Slot addresses Trent Alexander-Arnold transfer speculation
• Liverpool updates - live! Follow our blog for Chelsea build-up plus contract latest

"They had a great team then and they’ve got a great team now, so it will be a difficult game if we’re not 100 per cent on it. As a boy from Manchester, you’re aware of the relationship between both cities. It’s a bit of a rivalry. Everyone knows what their stadium is like, what their fans are like and what their team is like, but we will treat it like a normal game."

Chelsea has started the season impressively and sits inside the top four, but the Liverpool fixture is the first of a tricky run of games for the Stamford Bridge club, with matches against Newcastle, Manchester United and Arsenal all to come before the November international break.

"Everyone will be looking at us to see if we’ve made progress and improvement or if we’re just in a good spell," Palmer said ahead of Chelsea's trip to Merseyside. "If we can put in some good performances and get a good number of points then it will be really good for us this season."

Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Friday, Chelsea boss Maresca told his Chelsea players that they cannot exclusively depend on Palmer to keep producing the goods for the Blues .

Palmer has been Chelsea's stand-out player and one of the best players in the Premier League since the beginning of last season, registering 28 goals and 16 assists in 40 top-flight appearances.

No other player in the Premier League has managed that many direct goal contributions in that period, and the figures are made all the more remarkable by the fact that he was posting those numbers in a struggling Chelsea team for much of last season.

Palmer goes into Sunday's game in fine form but Maresca has called on his other players to supplement Chelsea's star man. "If we think that Cole is going to solve all our problems, it’s a big mistake," Maresca said.

"We put all the pressure on his shoulders and that is wrong. Also because we have Cole but we have many players that are doing well; Noni [Madueke], Pedro [Neto], Nicolas [Jackson], Christo [Nkunku], Enzo [Fernandez]. It’s not just about Cole, it’s about all the squad."