Steven Gerrard is hoping Aston Villa can ‘hurt’ Liverpool on Tuesday evening, but believes Jurgen Klopp’s team is the best in the club’s entire history.
Villa take on Liverpool in the Premier League on Tuesday evening, looking to secure a positive result and keep alive their ambitions of a top half finish.
The Reds need a win to to remain in with a chance of catching Manchester City in the title race, as the club chase all four major trophies with FA Cup and Champions League finals to come.
Gerrard – who made 710 appearances for Liverpool as a player – is anticipating a difficult challenge for Aston Villa against a team he believes are be best in his former side’s history.
“Because of the way the game has changed – it’s gone quicker, it’s gone faster – I think you’re probably watching the best Liverpool team there has been,” said Gerrard at his pre-match press conference. “That’s due to the speed, mentality and intensity of this current group.
‘”But I say that without disrespecting previous Liverpool teams because I grew up watching them. The European Cup winners, serial league title winners – I grew up on all of that. I’m well aware they’ve previously had world-class players, managers and teams.”
Gerrard, however, is confident that Villa can find ways to ‘hurt’ Liverpool but says his team will have to ‘suffer’ to secure a positive result.
“We’ve got to make sure we’re brave enough and show enough quality to hurt Liverpool,” Gerrard said. “I’m never going to set a team up to just suffer for 90 minutes, but I don’t want that to be gung-ho or careless. It has to be calculated.
“At times we’ll have to suffer but if we do that together and get through those situations, we believe with the form we’re in, we’ll have some interesting moments in the game.
“That’s what Tottenham did. They were organised, they were patient. And when their moments came they did cause Liverpool some problems.”
