Use your head like Sadio and subscribe to the Liverpool FC newsletter Sign me up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Steven Gerrard has told his Liverpool FC team-mates to “roll their sleeves up and fight” to re-ignite their top four hopes with victory over Arsenal at Anfield on Sunday.

The Reds skipper believes Brendan Rodgers’ side took a promising step forward with Wednesday’s 3-1 victory over Bournemouth which set up a Capital One Cup semi-final with Chelsea.

However, Gerrard has warned that morale-boosting triumph on the south coast will count for nothing if Liverpool don’t build on it by claiming the Gunners’ scalp.

A miserable return of 21 points from 16 matches represents the Reds’ worst start to a league season since 1964/65. They find themselves slumped in the bottom half of the table but fourth placed West Ham are only seven points better off.

Gerrard says that gap can be bridged but only if Liverpool maintain the standards they reached in the opening hour against the Cherries.

“It was nice to get a win as it’s been tough of late, I can’t deny that,” he said.

“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster so to get a good win and look forward to two very exciting games against Chelsea is a big lift.

“It will be tough as on current form they’re the best team in the country but it will be two great games, and two great atmospheres. If we can through, it’s a great chance to get another cup.

“The difference on Wednesday compared to Sunday was that at Old Trafford we made mistakes and got punished by world class players.

“Against Bournemouth we cut the mistakes out and the first half was a very pleasing performance, probably as close as we’ve come to last season’s standards.

“We need to keep going and keep winning. We have a tough game at the weekend against Arsenal and then we have got a run of fixtures which are a bit more kind to us.

“If we can get a big result against Arsenal and build on this, I think we can turn it around.

“I think this is where you find out what kind of players you’ve got in the dressing room.

“It’s time to roll your sleeves up and fight for the club and try to put things right as soon as possible and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Gerrard, who is still considering the offer of a one-year contract extension to extend his glittering Liverpool career beyond next summer, admits it’s been a testing spell for players and manager alike.

Crashing out of the Champions League at the hands of Basel and then the 3-0 defeat to Manchester United left Rodgers in the eye of a storm.

Gerrard has been here before during his 16 years of dedicated service.

The long-serving midfielder insists there is no point bemoaning the torrent of criticism aimed in the Reds’ direction as it’s simply a fact of life when you fail to live up to sky-high expectation levels at Anfield.

“It comes with the territory,” he said. “There was a stage where a couple of my performances were under par and I got a bit of stick.

“It’s normal. I’ve got to accept it being captain of the club and he’s got to accept it being the manager of Liverpool.

“If results don’t go well, questions are going to get asked, criticism is going to fly, you take it on the chin and try to improve things. That’s the only way.

“It’s been very hard. For me I’ve experienced it a few times during my career at Liverpool when it gets tough under certain managers and from the outside people are trying to kill you.

“It’s normal. We’re at a big club, we’ve got to take that responsibility.

“We can’t have players hiding and feeling sorry for ourselves, we need men out there and at Bournemouth I thought we all turned up and put a shift in. That’s why the result came.”

Always brutally honest, Gerrard has made a point of reminding every player in Rodgers’ squad what’s required if they are going to transform their season.

“I tell them individually, I tell them in the dressing room,” he said. “But if you’re sitting in that dressing room and you don’t know that the performance levels haven’t been good enough of late, you’re at the wrong place.

“I know when I don’t play well. I think every individual does here, but I think collectively it has been tough.

“It’s been tough to perform because we haven’t played well as a team and so there have been tough days of late.

“But if we keep fighting, keep performing, roll your sleeves up, keep giving everything you’ve got, I’m sure the good days are not too far away.

“Wednesday night was satisfying and gives you a bit of breathing space but you all know we can only enjoy it that night and then it’s gone because we start preparations for the Arsenal game.

“Everyone knows if we perform back to how we have done of late against Arsenal we’ll get beat.”

The visit of Arsene Wenger’s men will bring back memories of arguably the finest performance of Rodgers’ Anfield reign.

Back in February the Gunners, who were top of the table at the time, were thrashed 5-1 with Liverpool blowing them away as they scored four times during a devastating early burst.

Gerrard insists it’s no mystery why the Reds haven’t tormented anyone like that so far this term.

“We won the game in the first 20 minutes,” he said. “But when you have a strikeforce of Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez, they are capable of killing teams in 20 minutes.

“It’s different this year and everyone knows that. I think they were 60/70% of our goals those two. You take them out of any team in the world and it’s going to be tough.

“Can we make the top four? It’s going to be tough.

“We knew it was going to be tough the moment we lost Luis and the injuries we’ve had to Daniel.

“Everyone in the country knows the job to get in the top four becomes that awful lot harder. But we’ll keep fighting until the end and if people are going to write us off, we can’t control that.

“All I can control is what goes on in the dressing room and try to help other players to perform like we did at Bournemouth. Certainly, on that performance, there’s still a chance.”