The Reds’ welcome league leaders Arsenal to Anfield on Saturday lunchtime as they look to boost their chances of claiming a Champions League spot. Having recently ruled his side out of the title race, The Northern Irishman is adamant a top four place remains the aim.
“It’s certainly the objective. The position we’re in this season, we’re up there, we’re fighting. We’re still ambitious, we want to finish as high as we can, but top four is a key objective. To become title contenders, we’ll need to strengthen the squad and overall quality,” he declared.
The Merseysiders are eight points behind Arsenal and Rodgers believes that his side have often delivered in the biggest games this season against the division’s best sides.
“Arsenal are leading the pack and we’re amongst the clubs chasing. The players and supporters have been outstanding, this is a big game. Sometimes I feel, the bigger the game, the better we’ve played. At the Emirates though, Arsenal were the better team. You have to give credit to Arsenal when they beat us earlier this season, but since then we’ve been very good.
“Every game is critical now before the end of the season. Every team will look to take points off their rivals. If we win this weekend, we close the gap on the teams above us. So we need to make sure the performance is right. These types of games are an opportunity to make a statement of the progress we’ve made,” Rodgers insisted.
Aided by a new found belief that Rodgers has helped to instil in his team and roared on by a vocal home support, having lost just once on their home turf this year, Liverpool are in a strong position to topple the league leaders and close the gap between themselves and the top three, with favourable home fixtures to come during the run in.
“We make opponents get to the top of their game, so we’re confident going into every game. Now we expect to win every game. When I came in, there wasn’t much confidence to consistently win. Now there is – and none more so than at Anfield. We’ll respect our opponents, and none more so than Arsenal, but we’ll expect to win and have the confidence to do so,” said Rodgers.
However, Rodgers surprisingly admitted that he doesn’t believe Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge have formed a partnership, despite being heralded the SAS.
“Luis Suarez has made an impact in the big games and makes a great contribution, even if he hasn’t scored in them. It’s about the team. I think they can certainly beat that. People talk about Sturridge and Suarez, but it’s about the team. They’re not a partnership – they are simply both prolific goal scorers. We’re looking for others to chip in more too,” he declared.
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