Saturday, 15th September, 2012
Steven Gerrard believes that Liverpool could beat Manchester United when the two meet in the Premier League next weekend, such is the standard of the Reds’ football of late.
Liverpool could only draw 1-1 away at Sunderland earlier today, the first time in over 100 years that the club have failed to win one of their first four league games.
Sunderland took the lead through Steven Fletcher in the 29th minute and Liverpool had to wait until the 71st minute for Luis Suarez to hand them an equaliser.
The Reds did though have the edge in possession and hit 20 shots on goal compared to Sunderland’s six. For Gerrard, the signs are clearly there that something special is taking shape under new manager Brendan Rodgers.
And the Liverpool midfielder thinks it could all develop nicely for the visit of Manchester United to Anfield next weekend.
"We knew it wasn’t going to happen overnight. We were very disappointed with our performance against Arsenal [a 2-0 loss, ed.]. We tried hard but it just didn’t happen", Gerrard told Liverpool’s official site.
"Today we tried hard and although we were 1-0 down at half-time, for the 90 minutes I thought we completely controlled the game.
"Their goal was against the run of play and I think anyone who watched that game will think Liverpool should have walked away with the three points.
"You saw our performance today and I think that’s a message that it won’t be very long for us. The first win is just around the corner and let’s hope that’s against Manchester United next week."
Liverpool will also go into the clash with their fierce rivals buoyed by recent history: Manchester United have not won at Anfield for five years, while Liverpool have put them to the sword four times in the last five meetings.
The pressure will be firmly on Gerrard and co. though to claim Liverpool’s first Premier League victory of the season.
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