STEVEN GERRARD believes Liverpool’s dominant performance against Manchester City proves they are capable of launching a push for a Champions League spot.
The skipper insisted the Reds deserved more than a share of the spoils after a thrilling 2-2 draw with the champions at the Etihad.
It leaves Brendan Rodgers’ side in seventh place, nine points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham, but Gerrard says they have the ability to bridge that gap over the coming months.
“We can take a lot of belief from the way we’ve performed against Arsenal and Manchester City,” Gerrard said.
“It was similar to the Arsenal game in that I felt we did enough to come away with the three points.
“City are a good side and to go away to the champions and get a point is a good result, but after the way we played we’re disappointed not to get the win.
“We need to build on this and I’m feeling really confident about our ability to move up the table.
“We might not have got the results we wanted against the top sides but every time we have certainly matched them if not bettered them in games.
“We just need to try to cut out our mistakes and turn those draws into wins.
“No disrespect to the sides we’ve got coming up but if we keep playing like that then we can certainly put in a challenge for fourth place.
“If we perform like that we will pick up a lot of points between now and the end of the season.”
City took the lead through Edin Dzeko but Rodgers’ side equalised courtesy of a sweet strike from Daniel Sturridge against his old club.
The hosts complained about Liverpool’s failure to kick the ball out in the build-up to allow Dzeko to have treatment after a challenge from Daniel Agger, but Gerrard insists the Reds’ conscience was clear.
“To be honest I think most of our players didn’t even know he (Dzeko) was staying down,” Gerrard said.
“There was nothing in the challenge from Daniel Agger and when we went forward the referee was shouting ‘play on’.
“It’s not the responsibility of the Liverpool players to stop the game, it’s the referee’s responsibility. If Man City feel aggrieved about that they should be talking to the referee.”
Gerrard appeared to have secured victory for the Reds with a stunning 30-yarder into the bottom corner 17 minutes from time.
But Sergio Aguero ensured it finished honours even as he punished Pepe Reina’s decision to race off his line by lofting the ball into the empty net from a tight angle.
“We scored two really good goals and it’s certainly up there with our best performance of the season,” Gerrard added.
“The team is looking really strong at the moment. Before the transfer window we were lacking a bit up front as Luis Suarez was almost having to do two jobs.
“But now Daniel Sturridge has come in and given us more options going forward. Daniel has done brilliantly for us so far.
“I thought we were hard done by to go a goal behind in the first half as we had been the better side up to that point.
“But we came back really well and overall we can be really proud of our performance.
“Not many sides go to Manchester City and completely dominant large parts of the game like we did. It’s just disappointing that we weren’t able to hang on and see the game out.”
