It was, as Brendan Rodgers put it, an honour for Luis Suárez to captain Liverpool in what proved to be André Villas-Boas's swan song at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. And much more besides. It was recognition of his status as the club's finest talent, reward for his reaction to a thwarted transfer saga and, perhaps cynically, part of a concerted effort to avoid a repeat next summer. Liverpool cannot be faulted for indulging Suárez on that score.

The award of the captaincy in the absence of the injured Steven Gerrard and the out-of-favour Daniel Agger, Liverpool's vice-captain, underlined the extent of Suárez's rehabilitation since accusing Rodgers of breaking promises over his future only four months earlier. His response was another illustration of why he is being recognised as simply one of the leading strikers in the world, rather than a world-class talent carrying too much baggage, as Liverpool reinforced their Champions League credentials at White Hart Lane. It also demonstrated why Anfield officials wish to secure him on a new long-term contract before the season is over.

Suárez's brace in the 5-0 rout took his tally for the season to 17 goals in 11 appearances, an average of 1.54 per game. The 26-year-old has scored more goals in the 12 weeks he has been available to Liverpool than 10 of the Premier League's 20 clubs have produced since the campaign began on 17 August. And to think there were question marks over Suárez's finishing during the first 18 months of his Liverpool career.

The Uruguay international's return under Kenny Dalglish was hardly a cause for despair, four in the 13 games that followed his £23.5m arrival from Ajax in January 2010 followed by 17 goals in 40 appearances in 2011-12 as he settled into the Premier League. But the trajectory soared to 30 under Rodgers last season and, were he to maintain his current remarkable ratio over the final 22 league games, Suárez would break the 50-goal barrier.

Rodgers gave his explanation for the striker's outstanding form and finishing before West Ham United's recent visit to Anfield, pinpointing the bold decision to off‑load Liverpool's £35m record signing, Andy Carroll, and construct a team around Suárez at the start of his tenure as the turning point. The Liverpool manager said: "My thinking was that if Luis is playing with a big guy he is playing off the second ball, and his anticipation skills are very good. But I just felt that wouldn't benefit him because when you play with a big target man it is hard not to make that the focal point of your team.

"Removing that means you have to connect your game better through the lines. Possession is not good enough on its own, you have to penetrate. With a player like Luis, who is always on the move in between spaces and in behind, that serves him best."

That, however, does not address Suárez's impressive reaction to being refused a move away from Anfield this summer. Premier League stars were accustomed to getting their own way, and sulking if refused, but Suárez's commitment has been faultless while his temperament is reflected in a disciplinary record this season of one booking during a frenetic Merseyside derby. If he is playing for a move to a Champions League club, the evidence so far indicates he wants to take Liverpool with him.

With all due respect to Arsène Wenger and Arsenal, Suárez must have reflected on why the Premier League leaders – whom Liverpool can overtake with victory over Cardiff City on Saturday – were the only club to make an official bid for his services in the summer and realised that change was in order. As Gerrard said just days before the striker pleaded for a transfer in an interview with the Guardian: "Move on if you want further down the line, but a player of his calibre should wait for the big one to come to him. He deserves to play for one of the best teams in the world, a Barcelona or a Real Madrid. They will come calling for him again. I am hoping, from a biased point of view, that he gives us another year and shows us the form he did last season. Maybe it will be time for him to go next year or the year after. I don't think it is the right time for him to go just yet."

The Liverpool captain has been unerringly accurate in his statements relating to Suárez's career and value to Rodgers' team, saying in August, for example, that: "What we can achieve this season depends on whether he stays or goes."

On Sunday, in the Sky studio at White Hart Lane, Gerrard admitted: "We're lucky to have him and we need to enjoy him while he's here because if he keeps performances up like this, I hate to say it, but the big guns are going to be sniffing which is what we don't want." Liverpool are striving to ensure that is one Gerrard prediction that bucks the trend.