PreviewCurtis Jones interview: West Ham, remaining level-headed and texts from Jürgen Klopp

The Reds, who carry a six-point lead at the top of the Premier League and a game in hand, travel to West Ham United on Sunday for an evening showdown.

It's a quick turnaround from the 3-1, come-from-behind win over Leicester City on Boxing Day – during which Jones marked his 100th top-flight appearance with a goal – but Arne Slot's side are desperate for another set of three points.

Liverpoolfc.com caught up with Jones to preview the trip to London Stadium – read on for the interview in full…

West Ham is the next test now and it's just a case of recovering quickly and getting ready for it…

It's just game after game after game. As a footballer, that's what you enjoy, especially for someone like me. I've had a hard run, my career has been up and down for reasons, I've had my injuries and stuff. Touch wood it stays the same [as now] I'm in the team, I'm scoring goals and I'm enjoying it, so I just hope it continues.

West Ham is always a tough place to go and they always cause teams problems...

That's the Premier League. If you are playing a team at the bottom of the league, it's always hard. If you are playing the teams in the middle, it's always hard. And the teams at the top of the table, it's always hard. That's why the Premier League is the best league in the world. I say it all the time, every single team that you play is always hard. It's just another game and, of course, it's another game that we want to win. We know it's going to be a hard game but we've got the tools.

You could hear the belief of the fans inside Anfield during the Leicester game. What is the mindset of the players at the moment?

Just game after game. In the past, there's been times where we have been top of the league and you always see a little bit of a dip in terms of the performance of the lads and the performances as well. This is something that we've already spoken about [in] that that doesn't happen. It's game after game, we don't think about the end and lifting the cup and things like that. It's just game after game because we know if we win every single game now then you know what it is at the end of the season. So, that's the important thing – give it your all and you're helping your mates out. We'll see at the end. There's still plenty of games, so we take each game as it comes.

I think lots of us are wondering at the moment, 'What's Jürgen Klopp making of all of this?'...

I actually got a nice text off him. He was the one that said I'd played 100 games in the Premier League – I didn't even know. 'A hundred, onto the next 500. Congratulations, my friend.' And a picture of...

It looks like his granddaughter!

All smiles, yeah.

This is one of your biggest fans, now from afar. What does that mean to get a text from your former manager?

It means everything. Look, he has been texting me loads since he's been gone. He texts me all the time. That's what he is like as well with all the lads. He keeps in touch. He is the man who made me from a kid to a man. There was always talk around me, 'Is he good enough? He's always injured and he needs a loan.' Things like that. There's a reason why I'm still here now, and that's because of him and the belief that he had in me and always knew the star that I can be. I'm not saying I'm a star now but he knows if I'm doing the right things – I'm scoring goals and I'm playing every week – with the quality that I've got, I can always help the team. I'm grateful for him and his staff, and it puts a smile on my face when I see a text off him there. I just said to him, 'I hope you are enjoying your time, your Christmas.' He said, 'Yeah, I am!' It's nice and he's always there with us. He's a great man, so I'm happy that he's still around from afar.