Trophies will define Liverpool's season, not stats - Wijnaldum

Nov 16 (Reuters) - Liverpool's Premier League statistics this season make for impressive reading but the focus should be on delivering trophies at Anfield, according to midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum.

The Merseyside club are second in the league after 12 matches with 30 points, two behind defending champions Manchester City.

It is Liverpool's joint best start to a league season since the inception of the Premier League in 1992 and their unbeaten run has been built on solid foundations at the back.

The team has conceded five league goals -- the joint-best defensive record in the competition alongside Manchester City.

Wijnaldum, however, wants Liverpool, who have not won the league title since 1990 and whose last silverware came when they lifted the League Cup in 2012, to convert these milestones into tangible success.

"It is good to hear, of course, but we are not playing for statistics -- we are playing to win games and at the end of the season, we hope we can win something," he told the club website https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/325448-georginio-wijnaldum-liverpool-interview.

"Of course it is something good when you don't concede goals because that makes it easier to win games and also suggests that we have defended well but I think you also need a little bit of luck.

"Of course, those figures say something about our defensive qualities, particularly at home, but we have to make sure that we continue that now and go on a new run."

Wijnaldum has hailed fellow Dutchman Virgil van Dijk for marshalling the defensive unit, which has kept seven clean sheets this season.

"I think Virgil has made a difference in the last line because he is a good defender, a big defender. He is an extra man who can defend set-pieces as well," he said.

"He is a leader in the last line who not only helps himself with his quality but also the players next to him and so he really helps the team." (Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru Editing by Toby Davis)