Liverpool centre-back Dejan Lovren has predicted a "difficult" encounter when his side travel to Everton for the Merseyside derby on Monday night.

The Reds are currently second in the Premier League table, while their rivals have struggled to find form and sit 11 points back in eighth.

Although Liverpool are unbeaten in 11 games against the Toffees in the league, Lovren still expects Ronald Koeman's men to provide a tough test of their title credentials.

"It's always a special game against Everton," he told the Liverpool Echo. "It will be a pleasure to play in this game. They are tough games but we've had some good results against them in previous years. It will be quite a difficult challenge because of the intensity of the game and because of the crowd. But we need to think positively and be ready to perform from the first minute to the last minute.

"In a derby you maybe need more sharpness, more aggression. We need to be aggressive but we need to play clever - don't make a stupid challenge and get a red card in the first minute. It might be difficult in the first 10 to 15 minutes but after that we will show our face. When we have the ball we need to be calm. If you want to win you have to play football. You have to keep the ball and try to score as many as possible.

"I won't say we are in better form but when you see our players we have the quality to score whenever we want. We have a lot of opportunities during games. We are the most creative team in the Premier League with so many chances."

The last encounter between the two sides saw Jurgen Klopp's men claim a 4-0 triumph at Anfield in April.