Football
PA Sport 9y

Brendan Rodgers targets five Liverpool wins after draw at West Brom

Brendan Rodgers believes Liverpool must win their last five games if they are to reach the Champions League.

A 0-0 draw in the Premier League at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday put a major dent in the Reds' top four hopes.

They moved into fifth but were six points behind Manchester City ahead of the defending champions' home game with Aston Villa on Saturday evening.

Boaz Myhill denied Philippe Coutinho and Jordan Henderson, while Jordon Ibe hit the bar as Liverpool improved after the break.

The Reds needed goalkeeper Simon Mignolet to save from James Morrison and Callum McManaman to ensure a point, and Rodgers conceded they now needed a faultless finish.

He said: "It'll be very difficult. I felt of the six games we certainly needed to win five at least, so now we have five to go and we'll have to look to win them to give ourselves a chance.

"You never know what happens above you, that's the thing with football, but what you have to do is make sure you keep the pressure on.

"This is a difficult place to come, Tony's [Pulis] teams are strong. We have got a point and now we look to our game in hand in the week [against Hull] and look to get three points there."

Mario Balotelli made his first top-flight start since November but made little impact, and Rodgers insisted Liverpool would look to buy a new striker in the summer.

He said: "We will look at it and it's somewhere we will have to do some work on. I give credit to the players because they came out after a difficult result and performance last week [a 2-1 FA Cup semifinal defeat to Aston Villa] and showed great confidence.

"They defended well and attacked with all the invention and creativity we possibly could.

"We just don't score as many goals, it's as simple as that. The players have given the same effort and attitude, but we had two players last year [Luis Suarez and the injured Daniel Sturridge] who played in the front three who got 50-plus goals and we don't have it now."

^ Back to Top ^