Adam Lallana has revealed how a more punishing training regime has helped him contribute to a historic start to the season for Liverpool.

The 31-year-old clocked up his 17th appearance of the campaign as he came off the bench to help the Reds to a 1-0 win over Tottenham on Saturday - more than he managed in either of the last two seasons due to persistent injury problems.

Lallana’s increased availability has allowed him to play a bigger role on the pitch, including a man-of-the-match showing against Everton in the FA Cup third round and a crucial cameo in victory against Spurs.

But the undoubted highlight was a last-gasp equaliser against Liverpool’s next opponents, Manchester United, when the sides met at Old Trafford back in October.

Ahead of a hotly anticipated rematch on Sunday afternoon, the Englishman explained how the work he has got through at Melwood has proven key to such moments.

“It’s just training harder. When you’re not playing, it’s hard to maintain your fitness levels to come back in and be able to perform in this team,” he said.

“So you have to train harder, train stronger and make yourself ready, keep on top of everything, so when you are called upon you can deliver performances like last week [Everton].

“But that’s not just for me, it’s for all the lads and even the kids too. Credit due to everyone.

“I just want to contribute as much as possible. At times you’ve got to be patient, and that’s it. I just take it; another good training week, train hard and train strong, look to perform there and hopefully start at the weekend.

“But if not, then I’ll look to perform off the bench and help us get the three points, which is the main thing. We want to tick each game off now.”

Liverpool ended their visit to Spurs having clocked up 67 per cent possession but one shot fewer than their opponents over the course of 90 minutes.

And Lallana believes he and his teammates may need to get used to teams being happy to surrender the ball for long periods of games as they look to find a way to stop Jurgen Klopp’s juggernaut.

He continued: “It was a bit of an odd game really, with the way they sat off us. I don’t think we expected it, especially when we got the goal.

“But in the end, it’s three points at a tough place. We want to be relentless, and we have a couple of days off then back in for another big game next week at Anfield.

“I think maybe we need to adapt. There is always room for improvement, and even today we could maybe have controlled the game better.

“Maybe we were a little bit surprised at how much time we had on the ball, but it’s about keeping the ball better, manipulating the ball and seeing games out better if we want to improve and keep this unbeaten run going.

“Teams are going to adapt their philosophies to play against us, and we have to try and counter that and see games out better.”

With 20 wins and one draw from their opening 21 fixtures, Liverpool have now made the best start to a league season ever seen in English football, or indeed Europe’s top five leagues.

Asked if it is easy to understand why these statistics are being met with such hype, the midfielder replied: “Yes, but it’s on us to keep grounded. We have such a great group of lads for that.

“We’ve come back in there and after the game we are speaking about how we could have seen it out better.

“I’m sure it was entertaining for the neutral but we don’t want to winning games relying on our keeper or seeing shots go past the post.

“It’s a great mentality that we have, we don’t want to settle for just winning games. That’s a big reason why we are in the position we are.”