Virgil van Dijk: Liverpool Will 'Strike Back Straight Away' After Watford Defeat

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk said his team will "strike back straight away" after suffering their first Premier League defeat of the season against Watford at Vicarage Road on Saturday.

Van Dijk told Sky Sports (h/t Chris Shaw of Liverpool's official website) that the loss to the struggling Hornets was painful, but his team will respond next time out against Chelsea in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

"Losing hurts. The records are only for the media, we didn't even mention it once. We keep going, we want to win the next game ahead of us, that's the FA Cup, and then we have Bournemouth at home. We want to strike back, we want to show what we've been doing the whole season. That's the only way forward.

"The whole season, we didn't lose a game like this. They did very well, but we should have done better. We want to strike back straight away and we will."

Watford scored three times in the second half to end Liverpool's run of 18 consecutive Premier League wins and hand the league leaders their first defeat in over a year in the top flight, per Opta:

Two goals from Ismaila Sarr and a Troy Deeney strike secured all three points and lifted the Hornets out of the bottom three.

Liverpool remain 22 points clear at the top of the table and almost certain to win the title, but the loss does also end their hopes of becoming only the second team to go through a Premier League season unbeaten:

Watford managed to nullify Liverpool and restricted the Reds to just two shots from inside the box, per Squawka Football.

The Reds were also sloppy in possession and found Deeney a real handful, as noted by The Independent's Melissa Reddy:

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said his team were "just not good enough" and congratulated Watford after the match:

Klopp will need his team to recover quickly from their setback with some crucial fixtures ahead. The Reds are at Chelsea in the FA Cup on Tuesday and host Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday.

Liverpool then host Atletico Madrid in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League tie, trailing 1-0 from the first leg, before heading to Goodison Park for a Merseyside derby with Everton.