Jürgen Klopp is not expecting much to change when Liverpool visit Leicester City on Monday despite Claudio Ranieri's departure earlier this week.

The Foxes sacked the Italian, who led them to the league title against all odds last term, with the side sat 17th and just a point above the Premier League's bottom three after 25 games.

Despite guiding them to the last 16 of the Champions League, where they lost 2-1 away at Sevilla in mid-week in the first-leg - Jamie Vardy's late away goal offering real hope of progression to the last eight, Ranieri was sacked the following day.

Reds boss: I don't think Leicester will change

Klopp called Ranieri's dismissal "strange" and ranked it a decision he as mystifying as Britain's exit from the European Union and Donald Trump becoming President of the United States of America.

He said: "I have no idea why Leicester did this. Everyone could see the situation in the league, the situation in the Champions League - which we are not in."

Calling Ranieri a "really special person" and a "really nice guy", Klopp added: "I told the players at the beginning of the week Leicester now know exactly what the problem is and we should expect the best Leicester."

He said that after their goal away at Sevilla, it was "like two different games before and after" and they "needed this goal to get confidence back."

Despite the Premier League champions' poor form this season, having lost their last five league games, Klopp doesn't expect Leicester's preparation to have altered too dramatically ahead of Monday night.

He explained: "First game without Ranieri, I don't think they will change it. I am not sure. Probably the two assistants will [take over] so that's not a change, only a little [bit of a] different situation."

The German suggested that Leicester's players will "have to show a few things" and will "want to", but said his side's job is "not to let them" which he believes is "difficult enough."

But he that if his Liverpool side "play our best" then they are "difficult to play against whoever" which is "the thing we think about."

Liverpool must be 'spot on' against Foxes

Leicester haven't scored a goal in the league in 2017 and over 10 hours but Vardy's 73rd-minute finish has Klopp worried that their confidence will have received a timely shot in the arm.

The Reds boss declared it "unbelievable" the effect that the goal had on the game, insisting that "maybe they can keep this" but that Liverpool "have to make it not too easy for them to bring it on the pitch" or to "let the confidence [of Leicester's players] grow."

"We have to play our best football. That's what we've been working on for 15 days now," Klopp continued, stating that "it should be possible" but that it is their "job first to do."

This is Liverpool's first action in 16 days, having gone to La Manga for a warm weather mid-season training camp while other teams played out the FA Cup fifth-round.

But Klopp is not concerned by the break, and any potentially rustiness that could come of it, saying that his team are "used to it" and that it is "not that we left the country and didn't play football for a year."

"It's two weeks. That's not a real problem," the manager said, insisting that they had an "internal game" that acted like a "proper game" in Spain and "had sessions."

He joked that having games every three days is seen as "too much" but then "one a week or a two-week break" is "not enough", adding: "It's our job to do. We know this. We have to be spot on Monday night and play the best football we are able to do."

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About the author
Charlie Malam
Digital Sports Writer at the Daily Express. First-class Staffordshire University Sports Journalism graduate. Formerly VAVEL UK's Liverpool FC editor and Deputy Editor-in-Chief. Contributor since June 2014.