Steven Gerrard: Liverpool captain confident of success in 2013

The Reds have struggled for consistency under manager Brendan Rodgers this season, having picked up just 28 points from 20 matches.

However, club captain Gerrard is confident that his side can be buoyant about a better second half of the campaign.

"Going into the New Year, there's plenty to be positive about," he said. "I'm excited about this Liverpool team. I genuinely believe we are moving in the right direction.

"There will be a few blips along the way, like the Villa defeat, because we are a very young squad.

"But clubs are defined by how they react to adversity and I know this group shares plenty of character and togetherness. As a collective, we will learn and we will get better.

"The league position needs to be improved and that needs to be our focus. But we've got games in two major cup competitions to look forward to as well."

Liverpool defender Daniel Agger too believes that he and his team-mates should start the New Year with a positive outlook.

"The league position is not the best and we want to improve that," he said. "The only way to do that is to win some games.

"Beating QPR [on Sunday] was a step towards that and now we need three points against Sunderland.

"It doesn't matter how, we just need to get the three points. That's the most important thing now.

"It's about one game at a time. We are in a place where we aren't happy and where we are in the table now is not good enough and we want to get higher.

"And the only way to get that is to get three points every week, or at least try to get three points every week."