Gerrard hails Liverpool success

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard hopes the team’s crushing 4-1 victory over Manchester United will not only spur the Merseysiders on as they play catch-up at the top of the Premier League, but will also prove to other teams that the leaders can be beaten.

Rafael Benitez’s side battled back from a goal down to defeat United in clinical fashion, Fernando Torres and Gerrard turning the match on its head before the break, with Fabio Aurelio and Andrea Dossena easing Liverpool well clear before the end.

Gerrard said: “The important thing is that we have made the gap smaller (United lead by four points still with a game in hand). We realise that Manchester United are a fantastic team and there’s still a lot of work to do.

“We’ll need a little bit of luck along the way but hopefully that gives teams that are going to play against Manchester United a bit of belief that they can be beaten. And hopefully it will give us a lot of confidence to go on and win as many games as we can.”

The England midfielder was ecstatic to score his first ever goal at Old Trafford, but praised the team performance as a whole for their second four-goal haul of the week.

“I’ve been lucky enough to experience winning here before and that was also a magnificent feeling, but to score a goal after all the stick I’ve had from United fans over the last 10 years – well, it’s nice to score and rub it in a bit.

“It was magnificent, a great team performance. From front to back we worked very hard today, showed great character after going a goal down and it was a magnificent win.

“In the end it was comfortable with a man being sent off, but I think we were men today, we controlled the game. It’s not very often you see Manchester United getting beat 4-1 at home.”