Arsenal vs Liverpool: Brendan Rodgers demands big performance from his team today

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Liverpool will be aiming to halve the gap to Arsenal with victory today…

Brendan Rodgers has called on his team to deliver this afternoon as we take on Arsenal in the Premier League. The Reds team to face the Gunners has just been named and we now know what Rodgers has gone with.

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Raheem Sterling starts up front in place of Daniel Sturridge, who is only fit enough to make the bench. Kolo Toure, Lucas Leiva and Lazar Markovic also come in, with Martin Skrtel, Steven Gerrard and Adam Lallana all out.

Rodgers wants a big response to our last Premier League game – the 2-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester United – and knows that the team will have to be at its best to defeat the in-form Gunners.

Liverpool will be aiming to close the gap on both Arsenal and the top four places this afternoon, with a six point gap currently separating us from the North London side.

That can of course be halved with a win today, something Rodgers is desperate to produce. He told our official website: “The final eight games of the season are so important for us.

“Between now and the end of the season we know what points total we want to reach. We’ve made it difficult for ourselves with our last performance and result but it’s still achievable.

“Okay, we lost a game we wanted to take something from against Manchester United but it just means that we need to pick up something somewhere else.

“Possession – that was the key for us [against United]. We didn’t build the game or prepare the game well enough from the back. We gave the ball away too cheaply. In this system it’s so important than you can keep the ball.

“When you can build the game from behind then normally we play well because we can then prepare the game through midfield. That gives players the chance to get in position.

“But we were never in position to keep the ball well enough and that meant we then couldn’t press the ball because we weren’t in position. We were always caught in the half position.”

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