Daniel Farke insists Liverpool present the ultimate Premier League challenge for Norwich City in Friday’s opening night trip to Anfield.

Farke is relishing the task but confirmed at Colney he will be without experienced central defender Timm Klose, who has failed to recover from a hip problem. Christoph Zimmermann was already ruled out with a knee injury, which leaves Grant Hanley and Ben Godfrey as his only fit senior centre backs available.

Midfield duo Alex Tettey and Louis Thompson remain on the sidelines to face Jurgen Klopp's side while new signing Ibrahim Amadou is not in Farke's thoughts to face the European Cup holders.

"You can discuss it, but they are one of the best teams in the world. For me, probably the best at the moment," he said, speaking at Colney on Thursday afternoon. "It is the toughest task you can get to start. It's the first time they can play back at Anfield after winning the Champions League title so there will be lots of optimism and they will be focused.

"We know we are the underdog and not the big favourite but we won't raise the white flag. One thing I can promise is that we will be greedy to be there with a good performance, but also a good result.

"It is important that we take confidence from last season. Now we are at a different level and we have to prove it again. The proof is on the pitch.

"Last season we were able to break all the rules because people were telling us we needed to spend money. We are looking forward to breaking several rules this season.

"We have a few problems in personal terms. Especially in central defence with Christoph Zimmermann out with a knee injury and Timm Klose not available. Also the holding midfielder is pretty tricky. I hope we have Timm back in team training for the next home game. You could compare if Jurgen had to do without (Virgil) Van Dijk or (Joel) Matip. Alex Tettey is not available or Ibrahim Amadou. The game comes too early. The only holding midfielder we have is Tom Trybull.

"Even if it was possible to park the bus we could not. We will have to play with many offensive players and in order to be successful we will have to be good and keep the ball. If we have only to defend our goal we have no chance to get a good result. I believe in my players and my group and we have to find a solution to be competitive."