Virgil van Dijk is adamant there is no chance of him being distracted by the World Cup as he promised to keep giving 100% to Liverpool over the coming weeks.
Holland skipper Van Dijk is one of several Reds players expected to feature when the finals takes place in Qatar in November and December.
The 31-year-old has yet to feature for his country at a major international tournament having missed last year's European Championships as he recovered from the ACL injury that sidelined him for more than nine months.
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But treading carefully to avoid injury with Liverpool is not on Van Dijk's agenda - and hasn't been a contributory factor to the Reds' indifferent start of the season.
“Not at all, not at all," said the centre-back. "I can assure you that is definitely not the case. We are not in the situation because of that.
"I would understand because of the start we had everyone is looking for 'Why?' because the difference is too big (from last season) but I can assure you that is definitely not one of the reasons. You focus on the game at the time and that's definitely what we're doing.
“I can only speak for myself and I wouldn't worry about me. If you think about this I think you are going to have issues, in my opinion. It is just game-by-game and that includes international football.
"I want to go (to the World Cup) but to be ready, in my opinion, is not to focus on hopefully not getting injured, it is just keep playing, get fit, stay fit and get in a good moment."
Van Dijk could feature in Holland's UEFA Nations League games at Poland on Thursday and at home to neighbours Belgium on Sunday. The Dutch have been drawn against Senegal, Ecuador and hosts Qatar in their World Cup group, with their first game taking place on November 21.
With their last two Premier League games having been postponed following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Liverpool went into the international break on the back of a 2-1 Champions League home win over Ajax in which Van Dijk was skipper.
And the defender said: "Obviously I am very excited to lead the boys out there and do as good as we can. It was a big one for us, now I and certain players have internationals and other players will train and play friendlies in order to stay fit and get fit and we will get players back after the internationals.
"Then Brighton will be the focus. I'm not focusing on what is happening in November. (Against Ajax) we had a good step and hopefully we can carry that on after the internationals."
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