We, at AnfieldIndex, were all aware of the bizarre stat before the start of the Merseyside Derby:

When in the starting eleven, Steven Gerrard hadn’t won a Premier League game for Liverpool since March 6th 2011 (over a year!).

Ironically that last game also featured a hat trick but this time from Dirk Kuyt as Liverpool beat Manchester United at Anfield. An astonishing statistic that Gerrard hadn’t won all season as a starter was definitely playing on our minds. Had he lost his midas touch? Was he past it? Well he answered all of those questions and how. Gerrard managed to do what all of the other players haven’t been doing – being in the right place at the right time and adding numbers in the penalty area (oh and scoring too).

Too often this season Liverpool have not had many players in the penalty area however this time it was Gerrard himself that was available to put two easy goals away and complete his hat trick. His first goal however was as with his left foot he hit a sublime side footed shot, which curled over an on-looking Everton defence, into the top of the goal. His other two goals provided by Luis Suarez, the second of which was very unselfish of the Uruguayan.

Steven’s stats from the Merseyside derby are very impressive too. As you can see, via the table on the left, Steven Gerrard attempted four shots on the night and scored three goals. That’s a chance conversion of 75%. All of his four shots hit the target too (a rarity for any Liverpool player this season) meaning he had a 100% shot accuracy on the night too.

It was an impressive night for Steven especially as it had been so long since there had been a hat trick in the derby. Ian Rush being the last player to get one for Liverpool in the derby. Everton had themselves to blame by playing a much weaker side than the one that played Tottenham and for that they were punished. They had one eye on the Cup but so have Liverpool. Luckily Liverpool have Bellamy, Maxi and Kuyt to come into the side for the weekend if they wish to freshen it up and none of those players will decrease the quality at all if at the cost of Henderson and Downing, in fact we’re looking forward to seeing a side that has Gerrard, Suarez, Carroll & Bellamy starting together.

Next Page: Gerrard compared to Lampard this season…

Gerrard compared to Lampard 2011/12

So how has Gerrard done this season in comparison to his rival Frank Lampard? Let’s do a quick comparison as both of them are usually compared for the England midfield and have had similar roles for their sides as talismen. Frank Lampard has been one of Chelsea’s star players this season with ten goals already. A quick comparison of the Gerrard and Lampard in their goal attempts is below:

Gerrard’s hat trick against Everton has really improved his statistics this season. Gerrard has played less than half of the time that Lampard has this season and has half the goals, which is respectable (Gerrard 767 mins, Lampard 1788 – so Lampard has played over 1,000 minutes more). The key stat to look at is the mins per goal and mins per shots etc. The mins per goal stat is now more impressive for Gerrard (albeit after his hat trick but he has scored it so it counts!) and is now averaging a goal every 153 minutes – the best in the Liverpool squad in fact. Lampard is also impressive as he is Chelsea’s top scorer in the league, one ahead of Daniel Sturridge.

Lampard betters Gerrard for regularity of shots as Frank gets a shot off every 53 minutes in comparison to Gerrard’s 59 whilst they match each other on the mins per shot on target stat. It’s the Shooting Accuracy and Chance Conversion that puts Gerrard ahead again – with Gerrard achieving almost a 70% shot accuracy whilst converting 38% of his chances. That is impressive for a side that is performing under 10% for chance conversions. Liverpool need to get Gerrard scoring more often to improve their position. Lampard’s chance conversion is no slouch either at 29%. This is higher than the majority of strikers in the league, both players at this age should be pleased with their performances so far this season and will be looking to really push on and finish the season on a high.

Creatively Gerrard has been inferior to Lampard this season with the Chelsea man creating a chance every 40 minutes in comparison to Gerrard’s 51. Again not bad stats but Lampard’s more impressive, especially as he has five goal assists to his name whilst Gerrard is yet to register an assist in the league. So both players seem to cancel each other out in different areas but it remains to be said that both players are still talismen for their respective sides.

How are they doing in that final third of the pitch? Lampard is managing a healthy 75% pass completion in the final third and 33% of Lampard’s total passes are in the final third. In contrast Steven Gerrard is completing 76% of his passes in the final third but a whopping 44% of his total passes are in this area. It’s clear that Gerrard, despite playing deeper for Liverpool this year, is forcing the play and trying to get Liverpool to attack as much as possible. We’re pretty surprised with that statistic as we didn’t think that Steven had got forward or played in the final third as much as that.

There’s another big game coming on Sunday and Steven Gerrard will be key for Liverpool to go further in the FA Cup and progress in the league. It is vital to keep Steven Gerrard fit but Liverpool cannot afford to rest him either. It’s a catch-22 situation but we hope Captain Fantastic can come through the next few games without any issues and propel Liverpool to successful end of season run in.