Gerrard does not give up hope

Steven Gerrard and his Liverpool team-mates believe Chelsea can still be caught at the top of the Barclays Premiership.

Liverpool are languishing 15 behind the champions and face a tough away game at Manchester City, where they will be protecting a five-match unbeaten run without conceding a goal.

But they have games in hand which could see the deficit cut to single figures.

Catching Chelsea – who Liverpool must also play in the Champions League in a fortnight – may well be considered a fanciful claim from outside Anfield but skipper Gerrard and top scorer Djibril Cisse see it differently.

Gerrard said: “Recent results have shown they are not invincible, but don’t take anything away from them, Stamford Bridge is a difficult place to go and when they come to your place you know you are in for a very difficult time.

“We are not going to give it up, and from Liverpool’s position we will fight to the end. A good run in Europe gives you confidence and you can take that into league games, and our wins in Europe have continued to improve confidence.”

Liverpool and Chelsea have both now reached the Champions League last 16, but the Londoners have the upper hand over the European champions when it comes to league form, having already chalked up a 4-1 triumph at Anfield this season.

But Gerrard insists: “The manager has brought in some tremendous players and the squad is looking very strong. I am sure he’ll sign more in January and we will be a good force this season.

“Team spirit is important, and you only have to look at Chelsea and their results of late. That’s mainly due to them having a fantastic team spirit, but we have a similar one at Anfield and that is why you have seen our results improve.

“Our current form has been really good. We have won our last three league games back to back and kept a load of clean sheets.

“Things are looking a whole lot better than they were earlier on in the season and I am quite confident this season of being successful.”

Cisse adds his weight to the arguments, and said: “I agree Chelsea can be caught. We are in good form, we are winning games and have risen well in the table. We all still think we have a chance in the title race, we will fight to the end of the season to achieve that.

“It is difficult to do well in two competitions, but we have a good squad, a big squad, we feel we can do well in both competitions.

“And the goals are starting to come. Certainly in the last few league games, and we are not conceding goals either.”