Jordan Henderson calls on Gerrard and Aston Villa to make City drop points
As Liverpool seek a favor from Aston Villa on the last day of the Premier League season, Jordan Henderson quipped that he is ready to contact Steven Gerrard. Jurgen Klopp’s side are still in with a chance of winning the Premier League after beating Southampton 2-1 last Tuesday. But, in order for that to happen, they must first beat Wolves at Anfield and then hope Manchester City lose points to Villa.
Pep Guardiola’s side won a similar tight battle last season, and Henderson thinks he’s ready to rely on former Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard to help him achieve a different result this season.
He told Sky Sports: “It’s hard. We’ve had this before when they played Brighton [and went 1-0 down] and the crowd cheer and you know what’s going on and it’s hard to focus on the game.
“Hopefully that experience, we’ve learned from it and we can just concentrate on the game and what we need to do.
“Hopefully, Stevie and Villa can do us a favour at City. I might give him a call now, actually!”
Liverpool’s ability to drag the championship battle to the last day is largely down to the efforts of the widely rotated side that won at St Mary’s in Southampton. Takumi Minamino was one of nine changes to the starting lineup, and he scored exactly 514 days after his previous Premier League appearance. Henderson was happy with his ability to come in from the cold and contribute: “I feel like we’ve done that really well all season.
“The lads who might not have played as much as they would have liked, they’ve got to come in and show what they’re all about.
“I felt as though all the lads did that tonight, took the opportunity, and in a Premier League season you need absolutely everyone.”
James Milner reiterated his captain’s comments, pushing Liverpool to concentrate on what they can control. Regardless of the outcome on Sunday, he believes that Klopp’s side would have done themselves well by pushing City so close.
He said: “Try and win our game, that’s all we can do, and that’s all we’ve been trying to do since we sort of had a reset in January.
“We were so far behind and we went for it, had a mental reset, and since then we’ve really pushed.
“They’re an incredible team to go up against and, whatever happens this season, I think we’ve done ourselves proud.
“But you’re coming up against a top team like Manchester City so all we can do is try and win our games and try and keep the pressure on right until the end.
“All we could do is take it to the last game.”
