Liverpool's Jordan Henderson has offered up a stout defence of his midfield partner Steven Gerrard and claimed he is "still one of the best players in the Premier League" after his return to form in Saturday's Merseyside derby.
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Gerrard's future at the heart of the Liverpool midfield was being questioned by some of his critics after his disappointing displays for England in last summer's World Cup finals were backed by indifferent performances for his club side at the start of this season.
The Liverpool skipper suggested he provided an answer to his doubters with a wonderful goal and an improved display in the 1-1 draw against Everton at Goodison Park and Henderson has now stated that the question marks over the 34-year-old veteran are not justified.
"Stevie's still one of the best players in the Premier League," Henderson told reporters.
"There's no doubting his quality. A lot of teams have been putting someone to man-mark him, which shows just how good he is. I don't think he deserves any criticism. He's been the best player this league's probably seen in a long time and still is."
Henderson went on to admit Liverpool were crushed by Phil Jagielka's late wonder-strike that denied them all three points in Saturday's game at Anfield, but he took encouragement from an improved display by the Reds.
"It's disappointing, but the performance was very good, back to the level we expect," he added.
"The intensity was good all over the pitch, we worked hard, we were more fluent going forward and we made chances as well. Also, we defended really well throughout the game so that was pleasing.
"We did quite a lot of work during the week on defending and I think we showed just how well we can defend, so that needs to be the case from now on. Then with the goal, there's not much you can do about that, it's a great strike.
"The goal was in the top corner so we've just got to keep going and keep playing like that. If we keep putting in performances like that we'll win more than we don't."