You can usually tell who Jurgen Klopp's favourites are.
Every time Liverpool have come up against Leicester City during the German's seven years in charge of the Reds Klopp has found the room to sneak in a mention of Jamie Vardy, a forward he absolutely loves and probably one he'd have liked to have signed were he a little younger.
Martin Odegaard has been on the receiving end of his praise this week, with Klopp first telling Norwegian media of how he tried to sign the Arsenal captain for Borussia Dortmund when the playmaker was just 15, and then doubling down on his praise for Odegaard during Friday's press conference.
Gabriel Jesus got a bit of toffee too, although he isn't one of Klopp's usual suspects. His fellow Brazilian teammate Gabriel Martinelli though, well that is another matter.
It all started after the madcap 5-5 League Cup tie between Liverpool and Arsenal in October 2019 when Martinelli, then just 18 and in his first season with the Gunners, scored twice to put his side 3-1 up at Anfield before the Reds roared back to win on penalties.
The teenager was dubbed "the talent of the century" by Klopp back then, with the German no doubt resenting the fact that Liverpool's own recruitment team hadn't discovered this talent in the Brazilian lower leagues as Arsenal had done.
Fast forward to January this year, and Klopp was at it again after another League Cup tie.
The Reds won 2-0 at the Emirates courtesy of a Diogo Jota brace to advance to the Wembley final, but they had to overcome one or two tricky moments as an Arsenal side low on confidence caused them issues.
As he assessed the win, and having not been asked about any Arsenal player directly, Klopp said: "Martinelli by the way... everybody should remember that name. Outstanding player."
Outstanding. And Klopp doesn't use that word lightly.
It is a word usually reserved for the greatest quality and the finest players, and indeed for his favourites.
He trotted it out again last week when the whole world was once again debating the qualities of Trent Alexander-Arnold who, as you might of heard, failed to feature for England in recent internationals.
“He is an outstanding football player in a situation where three other right-backs in this country are doing really well," said Klopp.
"We should not forget that. Gareth Southgate cannot line up all four. So one or two will be disappointed. That is the situation.
"So the view on that is how influential can Trent be? That is number one. What is he good at? That is how you judge a player."
Klopp then went on to provide a detailed analysis of Liverpool's pressing and defending game, insisting that it was wrong for people to focus on the negatives with Alexander-Arnold when what he can provide can be so positive.
“Every player in the league has these challenges. But with him? Every time it is picked up and analysed, all the experts saying this is a weakness. Honestly, I just don’t get it," he said.
"I just don’t get that part of it. A world-class talent gets judged by the one thing he is not as world class at as the other things. If he was not a good defender, he would not play.”
And Alexander-Arnold is a good defender, and he will play, especially after his goal and confidence-boosting standing ovation against Rangers in the Champions League in midweek.
But as he will be up against such a dangerous opponent and a player Klopp clearly loves in Martinelli down the Arsenal left, then it will be fascinating to watch how Alexander-Arnold imposes his game on his direct opponent, and indeed the rest of the Gunners side.
In many ways the game could well be won and lost in this battle, with the effervescent Martinelli demonstrating all of the feel-good factor about his side right now and desperate to land one on Alexander-Arnold and Liverpool, two entities who have been more than knocked sideways during their starts to the season.
If Martinelli wins the "outstanding" battle then there's a decent chance that Arsenal will too, especially as any mistakes Alexander-Arnold makes are likely to result in clear cut chances for Arsenal's in-form attack.
If it is the Liverpool man who wins the duel though then his side are likely to be purring, just as they were for the vast majority of the last six meetings in all competitions from which Liverpool hold an 11-0 aggregate lead, with Alexander-Arnold assisting five of those goals.
If he's on his game then the Reds will be imposing theirs, and most of Martinelli's work is likely to be done running backwards.
There's no doubt which one Klopp will want to come out on top, with the Liverpool boss happy to set some admiration aside.
