Virgil van Dijk hailed what he considered to be a Man of the Match display by Fabinho after the Liverpool star filled in at centre-back against Chelsea.
Joe Gomez and Joel Matip both missed Sunday’s clash at Stamford Bridge, with Fabinho dropping into central defence alongside Van Dijk.
Sadio Mane grabbed both goals for the Reds as they ran out 2-0 winners, with new signing Thiago Alcantara coming on at half-time and catching the eye.
The game swung in Liverpool's favour after Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen was sent off at the end of the first half for hauling down Mane.
And speaking after the game, Van Dijk paid tribute to Fabinho for what he described as an ’outstanding’ display against Frank Lampard's side.
“Outstanding,” the Dutchman told Liverpoolfc.com.“I just told him as well I think he was Man of the Match. To keep out a striker like [Timo] Werner and don’t let him score, overall he was outstanding.
“Everyone knows how good he is but it shows also that we need everyone. We are a bit unlucky with the injuries now but we’ll need everyone back because it’s such a long season.”
The win made it two from two for the Reds after last weekend's success over Leeds United at Anfield, and Van Dijk described the victory in the capital as ‘massive’.
He added: “It was always going to be tough, no matter the circumstances, no matter how they play or who was playing.
“It was a good performance overall. It’s not nice to give a penalty away and it was bit unlucky from Thiago [Alcantara], I think. But overall we dominated.
“Obviously the red card helps a little bit, we can’t deny that, but even before that we created moments of danger and we were very concentrated and very ready to get the good result.”
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