CURTIS JONES says Liverpool have to keep calm and carry on as Arne Slot’s side look to recover from back-to-back defeats in Saturday’s “huge game” at Chelsea.

The Premier League champions had made a storming start to the season, having won seven straight matches following their penalty shoot-out loss to Crystal Palace in the Community Shield.

But things have gone awry in recent days for the Reds, whose 100 per cent start to their title defence ended with Saturday’s last-gasp 2-1 loss away to Oliver Glasner’s Eagles.

That Selhurst Park setback was compounded on an ear-splitting evening in Istanbul as Liverpool’s first Champions League trip of the season ended in a 1-0 loss to Galatasaray.

Skipper Virgil van Dijk said “there shouldn’t be panic” after their second straight loss but stressed the need for improvement — sentiments echoed by midfielder Jones.

“It’s just part of the game,” the homegrown star said. “I say it all the time, you must be mad if you think you can win every game.

“You’d obviously like to, but the reality is these teams you play are world-class teams, and it’s normal if you lose. It’s just how you bounce back.

“We’ve got a huge game again in three days, the lads have to stay calm.

“It’s part of it, it’s not fine that we lose, but we just have to stay calm, and it will all change. It will all change, of course it will.”

Victor Osimhen’s first-half spot-kick proved the difference against the sloppy Reds, who looked overawed at times on a hostile evening at rocking Rams Park.

The VAR’s intervention ended up with a late penalty won by Ibrahima Konate being overturned, but even if Liverpool had converted it would not have papered over a poor performance.

“If you look left and right, there’s world-class lads all around,” Jones told LFCTV. “But it’s not all about that, it’s about lads who want to go and win.

“It’s OK if you’re nice on the ball and stuff like that, but you have to go and win, work hard and run more and that is what the lads know, of course they do.

“But as I have said already, there are games like this, and it won’t be the last as well.

“We would be mad to think we can turn up and just win these games. It’s about how much we want to win.

“Of course we’re upset, but there are positives to take and there is a game again in three days and we have to go again.”

Slot’s side stayed in Istanbul following Tuesday’s game, with Liverpool’s starters doing recovery work and the rest of the group training before flying back to Merseyside on yesterday afternoon.

Goalkeeper Alisson Becker is being assessed after being forced off with an injury that Slot says will rule the Brazil international out of Saturday’s trip to Stamford Bridge.

Lively forward Hugo Ekitike is also being assessed after limping off later in the second half.