Steven Gerrard has said Champions League qualification is not beyond Liverpool providing they maintain the form that left Brendan Rodgers lamenting a draw at Manchester City.
The Anfield club dented City's prospects of retaining the Premier League title with a 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday but, despite an impressive display, the visitors' hopes of a top-four finish also suffered as the gap between Liverpool and fourth-placed Tottenham extended to nine points.
Liverpool have struggled for consistency during Rodgers's first season in charge but have only Spurs, Chelsea and Everton left to play of the teams above them in the table – all at home – and travel to six of the bottom eight before the end of the campaign. And the club captain is confident Liverpool will challenge for fourth should the City performance become a benchmark for the remaining 13 league games.
Gerrard said: "We can take a lot of belief from the way we've performed against Arsenal and Manchester City. City 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."
Sergio Agüero's stunning finish prevented Gerrard giving Liverpool victory at City but the England captain believes the signing of Daniel Sturridge, who scored his fourth goal for his new club on Sunday, has had a major impact on Rodgers's team.
He added: "It was certainly up there with our best performance of the season. The team is looking really strong at the moment. Before the transfer window we were lacking a bit up front as Luis Suárez 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. Not many sides go to Manchester City and completely dominate 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."
Liverpool, meanwhile, have appointed Matthew Baxter as the club's new chief media officer to lead its digital media and television operations. Baxter was formerly senior vice-president of MGM Networks.
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