Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard believes his side have the ability to win a first Barclays Premier League title after their 3-0 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford.
The 33-year-old scored two penalties to help Liverpool claim a memorable victory over rivals United on Sunday, which, combined with Chelsea’s defeat at Aston Villa on Saturday, has thrown the title race wide open.
Liverpool lie in second, four points behind leaders Chelsea, with a match in hand. Both Chelsea and third-placed Manchester City still have to travel to Anfield before the end of the campaign.
“We’ve shown that we are genuine contenders and we are going to fight to the end for this,” Gerrard said. “We believe that we can win the League. But I’ve said it many times, in football it is easy to talk the talk.
“We’ve got to go and treat Cardiff and Sunderland like Manchester United now, and if we do we’ll win a lot of games between now and the end of the season. We’re going for it.”
Liverpool have not won the league since 1990 but Gerrard’s brace, plus a third from Luis Suarez with six minutes to go at Old Trafford, have given the Reds a real chance of ending that drought.
Their first win at Manchester United since 2009 means that Liverpool have won eight of their last 10 matches and are in the title mix with only nine fixtures left to play.
“I’ve come here many times and been played off the park,” said Gerrard, who also fired a third penalty against a post. “They are a fantastic team and this is one of the most difficult places to come in the Premier League, so to dominate from start to finish was fantastic and we are still going away disappointed that we didn’t score more goals.
“You have to give credit to the manager. He keeps switching and tinkering with the formation and the tactics. We totally bossed the middle of the park. When you come away from home you have to keep the ball and dominate the middle of the pitch, and if we do that we have two of the best strikers in the world to go and do the damage.
“I’m sure if you ask the Manchester United defenders, I don’t think they have ever had a harder 90 minutes.”
source: premierleague.com
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 