Liverpool will look to build on their good start to 2014 with another vital three points at Stoke—but Mark Hughes’ men won’t make it easy for the Reds.
Sunday, 12th January 2014; 4.10pm kick-off
Premier League
Britannia Stadium
Liverpool’s victory over Hull City on New Year’s Day was described as “the best of the season” by Brendan Rodgers, bouncing back from successive defeats at Manchester City and Chelsea over Christmas.
After beating Oldham Athletic 2-0 in the FA Cup last Sunday, the Reds will be hoping their good form continues and maximum points are gained at the Britannia Stadium on Sunday.
Mark Hughes’ Stoke side are currently up in 12th place in the Premier League, having drawn 1-1 with Everton in their last match.
However, an away trip to White Hart Lane at the back end of December saw them crumble to a 3-0 defeat against Tottenham.
The Potters have already taken points off Manchester City this season too, and beat Chelsea thanks to an Oussama Assaidi goal, who is ineligable for this encounter as he can’t play against his parent club.
Liverpool are without defender Daniel Agger, who picked up a knee injury against Oldham last Sunday. The Danish international could be sidelined for up to six weeks.
Mamadou Sakho is expected to return from injury for the trip to Stoke, and should partner Martin Skrtel in central defence—though Kolo Toure is on standby if Sakho doesn’t pass late fitness tests.
The Reds could also welcome back Daniel Sturridge from an ankle injury sustained in November, although whether he will play from the start remains to be seen.
Luis Suarez is 5/2 to be the first goalscorer of the game.
Jose Enrique and Jon Flanagan remain sidelined for Liverpool, so Aly Cissokho may continue at left-back.
Steven Gerrard to score and Liverpool to win is a tasty 4/1 and you can get a free £25 bet with William Hill here.
The match is live on Sky Sports 1 in the UK, and highlights on Match of the Day on BBC One at 10.25pm.
Liverpool will look to build on their good start to 2014 with another vital three points at Stoke—but Mark Hughes’ men won’t make it easy for the Reds.
Sunday, 12th January 2014; 4.10pm kick-off
Premier League
Britannia Stadium
Liverpool’s victory over Hull City on New Year’s Day was described as “the best of the season” by Brendan Rodgers, bouncing back from successive defeats at Manchester City and Chelsea over Christmas.
After beating Oldham Athletic 2-0 in the FA Cup last Sunday, the Reds will be hoping their good form continues and maximum points are gained at the Britannia Stadium on Sunday.
Mark Hughes’ Stoke side are currently up in 12th place in the Premier League, having drawn 1-1 with Everton in their last match.
However, an away trip to White Hart Lane at the back end of December saw them crumble to a 3-0 defeat against Tottenham.
The Potters have already taken points off Manchester City this season too, and beat Chelsea thanks to an Oussama Assaidi goal, who is ineligable for this encounter as he can’t play against his parent club.
Liverpool are without defender Daniel Agger, who picked up a knee injury against Oldham last Sunday. The Danish international could be sidelined for up to six weeks.
Mamadou Sakho is expected to return from injury for the trip to Stoke, and should partner Martin Skrtel in central defence—though Kolo Toure is on standby if Sakho doesn’t pass late fitness tests.
The Reds could also welcome back Daniel Sturridge from an ankle injury sustained in November, although whether he will play from the start remains to be seen.
Luis Suarez is 5/2 to be the first goalscorer of the game.
Jose Enrique and Jon Flanagan remain sidelined for Liverpool, so Aly Cissokho may continue at left-back.
Steven Gerrard to score and Liverpool to win is a tasty 4/1 and you can get a free £25 bet with William Hill here.
The match is live on Sky Sports 1 in the UK, and highlights on Match of the Day on BBC One at 10.25pm.
In the latest in our series of articles on safe standing, Peter Caton looks at what causes stadium disasters, what doesn’t cause them and why he believes that supporting the ban on standing undermines the Hillsborough campaigners’ fight for justice.
After one of the worst stadium disasters of the 20th century, the subsequent judicial inquiry found that the primary cause of the terrible loss of life had been a catastrophic failure by the relevant authorities to ensure the safe admission of spectators.
Lessons from previous games at the same ground had not been learnt; known problems with admitting large numbers of fans within a short space of time via the entrance concerned had been ignored; there was a breakdown in communication between individuals responsible for crowd safety; fans had not been adequately guided to the correct areas of the ground; there had been a failure to realise that a commotion in the crowd was the result of a crush; the game had begun while fans were losing their lives; and no one body or individual had taken responsibility for crowd management or safety on the day.
Referring to the failure of the authorities to plan properly for the match and to anticipate potential problems, the judicial report noted that “no plans were in place to deal with a capacity crowd” and that there had been a “failure to learn from the lessons of the past.” It added that all bodies responsible “were remiss in not adequately taking previous experiences into account in their planning”.
In reference to the allocation of responsibilities between police, stewards and others, the report noted: “In some cases, there was either a disagreement or a confusion as to areas of responsibility… No one was tasked with or accepted the responsibility of monitoring the crowd inside the stadium… precisely because there was no effective monitoring of the crowd… [the commotion] was not picked up early enough, nor were the distress signals by the spectators… The result was that the situation worsened and despite this, play commenced and continued for [some time] before it was stopped.”
A lack of communication between those responsible for stadium safety in the crucial minutes before kick-off was severely criticised: “Most senior personnel responsible for safety and security were at various places around the stadium without properly communicating with each other or sharing vital information that would inform corrective strategies.”
As the crowd built up outside, others inside, who could have potentially delayed the kick-off, were unaware of the problem, as the report noted: “due to lack of co-ordinated information, some of the officials inside the stadium, including the referee and senior soccer officials, were not aware of the scenario outside the stadium.” Inside, as a dreadful crush began to claim the lives of scores of fans, cries for help went unheeded: “Spectators also shouted at the top of their voices for help, to no avail. Despite all these attempts, and also what ought to have been a visible commotion in the affected area, the security personnel failed to take notice.”
To anyone who has read The Taylor Report into the Hillsborough Disaster the remarks above will be all too familiar.
Yet they originate not from that report into the events of 15th April 1989, but into the events at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, twelve years later, on 11th April 2001.
It is a stadium well known to football and rugby fans around the globe. If you watched the 1995 Rugby World Cup (or have seen the dramatised version in the film ‘Invictus’), you’ll recall it as the ground where a beaming Nelson Mandela handed the Cup to Springbok captain Francois Pienaar. As a football fan, you may recall it as the venue of Spain’s quarter-final victory over Paraguay on their way to winning the 2010 World Cup.
It is a first-class stadium. As was recorded in the judicial inquiry into the disaster, in which 43 people lost their lives due to crushing, “the capacity of the stadium was sixty thousand (60,000), comprising fifty thousand (50,000) seats and ten thousand (10,000) seats in the suites” (hospitality boxes). Ellis Park was and is an all-seater stadium.
As at Hillsborough, it had not been the form of spectator accommodation in their area of the stadium that killed the victims of the disaster, but rather the failings of people charged with ensuring their safe admission to the ground. Indeed, if we look at the causes of numerous disasters at large public gatherings, the most frequent cause is poor management of crowds as they enter or leave the venue, totally regardless of whether it is all-seater or a venue offering standing accommodation as well as seats.
An online list of stadium disasters catalogues some 20 events where large public gatherings ended in a tragic loss of life. Below is a summary of all the fatal disasters listed there from the 20th and 21st centuries, which starts with an event not in a football stadium, but in an all-seater concert hall and which shows quite clearly that the most common cause of such disasters is poor crowd management at the point of entry or exit:
Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, Ohio, December 1979
11 dead in a rush for seats at this all-seater venue ahead of a concert by The Who
Accra Sports Stadium, May 2001
127 dead, falling on stairs trying to escape tear gas in this all-seater stadium
Stade Armand Cesari, France, 5th May 1992
18 dead as a temporary all-seater stand collapsed
Bradford City, 11th May 1985
56 dead as a wooden all-seater stand caught fire and fans were unable to escape
Burnden Park, 9th March 1946
33 dead, as poor control of incoming fans led to overcrowding of rudimentary terrace
Estadio Mateo Flores, Guatemala, 16th October, 1996
83 dead, caused by overcrowding before kick-off in this all-seater stadium
Estadio Nacional, Lima, Peru, 24th May, 1964
320 dead, as locked gates trapped fans fleeing tear gas in this all-seater stadium
Heysel Stadium, 29th May 1985
39 dead, as rioting caused a crumbling wall to collapse
Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Ivory Coast, 29th March, 2009
19 dead, caused by fans falling on each other on entering this all-seater ground
Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Ivory Coast, 1st January, 2013
61 dead, caused by a crowd stampede after leaving this all-seater stadium
Ibrox, Glasgow, 5th April 1902
25 dead, as a wooden terrace collapsed
Ibrox, Glasgow, 2nd January, 1971
66 dead, caused by fans falling on a stairway as they left the game
Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, Athens, Greece, 8th February 1981
21 dead, caused by fans falling in a rush to leave this all-seater stadium
Kathmandu Stadium disaster, 12th March 1988
93 dead, as fans in a tunnel fleeing a hail storm were trapped by locked gates
Kayseri Atatürk Stadium disaster, 17th September 1967
40 dead, as fans fleeing fights were trapped by locked gates in this all-seater ground
Luzhniki disaster, Central Lenin Stadium, Moscow, 20th October 1982
66 dead, caused by fans falling on an exit stairway leaving this all-seater stadium
Oppenheimer Stadium disaster, 13th January 1991
42 dead, trying to escape fighting, trampled or crushed against fences
Port Said Stadium riot, 1st February 2012
79 dead at this all-seater ground, after rioting linked to civil unrest and revolution
Zamalek Stadium disaster, Cairo, 17th February 1974
48 dead, caused by extreme overcrowding and collapsing walls before kick-off
In addition to these events catalogued in that online list of stadium disasters, poor management of moving crowds has also led to tragedy at the recording of a TV show, at music festivals and at annual pilgrimages:
PhilSports Stadium stampede, Metro Manila, Philippines, 4th February 2006
73 dead, as crowds stumbled and fell on entry to this all-seater arena for a TV show
The Love Parade, Duisburg, Germany, 24th July 2010
21 dead, in a crush trying to enter an outdoor festival
Hajj, Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Numerous stampedes causing the death of thousands of pilgrims over the years
Whether it was religious devotees making for a place of pilgrimage, festival goers trying to enter an open-air venue, music fans rushing into an all-seater concert hall or football fans entering or leaving a stadium, if the people responsible for ensuring they could do so safely failed to perform their duties efficiently, this could, and sadly did, lead to disaster. Whether the venue was an open field, an all-seater arena or a stadium with standing accommodation had no bearing on those crowd management failures.
As we enter 2014 with the new inquests into the Hillsborough deaths just around the corner, this is a key fact that should not be overlooked. As Sheila Coleman of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign recently told the Liverpool Echo: “We don’t want the standing issue to be used as a diversion from the investigations that are ongoing at the moment. We need to be clear: standing didn’t kill people at Hillsborough, it was other factors. Our main focus will be challenging the establishment.”
Indeed, one might argue that not only could the standing issue be a diversion from the ongoing investigations, but that to assert that standing is unsafe could actually undermine the fight for justice. For if standing per se is unsafe, then those under investigation for their part in the failings that led to the Hillsborough disaster can claim it was an accident waiting to happen and that they were not to blame. It can help them to get off the hook. Asserting that standing is unsafe thus weakens the case against them considerably.
Rail seats enable excellent crowd management for safe standing
As the examples above show, standing does not kill. Poor crowd management kills. Acknowledging that well managed standing is safe will help to ensure the best chance of achieving justice for the 96 over the coming months. Continuing to support the standing ban flies in the face of logic and puts the chance of gaining justice at risk.
Peter Caton is the author of ‘Stand Up, Sit Down: A Choice To Watch Football‘, in which he considers the arguments for and against spectators having the choice to stand. A lifelong West Ham fan, Peter was co-founder of the ‘Stand Up, Sit Down’ campaign and is an active member of the Football Supporters Federation.
In the latest in our series of articles on safe standing, Peter Caton looks at what causes stadium disasters, what doesn’t cause them and why he believes that supporting the ban on standing undermines the Hillsborough campaigners’ fight for justice.
After one of the worst stadium disasters of the 20th century, the subsequent judicial inquiry found that the primary cause of the terrible loss of life had been a catastrophic failure by the relevant authorities to ensure the safe admission of spectators.
Lessons from previous games at the same ground had not been learnt; known problems with admitting large numbers of fans within a short space of time via the entrance concerned had been ignored; there was a breakdown in communication between individuals responsible for crowd safety; fans had not been adequately guided to the correct areas of the ground; there had been a failure to realise that a commotion in the crowd was the result of a crush; the game had begun while fans were losing their lives; and no one body or individual had taken responsibility for crowd management or safety on the day.
Referring to the failure of the authorities to plan properly for the match and to anticipate potential problems, the judicial report noted that “no plans were in place to deal with a capacity crowd” and that there had been a “failure to learn from the lessons of the past.” It added that all bodies responsible “were remiss in not adequately taking previous experiences into account in their planning”.
In reference to the allocation of responsibilities between police, stewards and others, the report noted: “In some cases, there was either a disagreement or a confusion as to areas of responsibility… No one was tasked with or accepted the responsibility of monitoring the crowd inside the stadium… precisely because there was no effective monitoring of the crowd… [the commotion] was not picked up early enough, nor were the distress signals by the spectators… The result was that the situation worsened and despite this, play commenced and continued for [some time] before it was stopped.”
A lack of communication between those responsible for stadium safety in the crucial minutes before kick-off was severely criticised: “Most senior personnel responsible for safety and security were at various places around the stadium without properly communicating with each other or sharing vital information that would inform corrective strategies.”
As the crowd built up outside, others inside, who could have potentially delayed the kick-off, were unaware of the problem, as the report noted: “due to lack of co-ordinated information, some of the officials inside the stadium, including the referee and senior soccer officials, were not aware of the scenario outside the stadium.” Inside, as a dreadful crush began to claim the lives of scores of fans, cries for help went unheeded: “Spectators also shouted at the top of their voices for help, to no avail. Despite all these attempts, and also what ought to have been a visible commotion in the affected area, the security personnel failed to take notice.”
To anyone who has read The Taylor Report into the Hillsborough Disaster the remarks above will be all too familiar.
Yet they originate not from that report into the events of 15th April 1989, but into the events at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, twelve years later, on 11th April 2001.
It is a stadium well known to football and rugby fans around the globe. If you watched the 1995 Rugby World Cup (or have seen the dramatised version in the film ‘Invictus’), you’ll recall it as the ground where a beaming Nelson Mandela handed the Cup to Springbok captain Francois Pienaar. As a football fan, you may recall it as the venue of Spain’s quarter-final victory over Paraguay on their way to winning the 2010 World Cup.
It is a first-class stadium. As was recorded in the judicial inquiry into the disaster, in which 43 people lost their lives due to crushing, “the capacity of the stadium was sixty thousand (60,000), comprising fifty thousand (50,000) seats and ten thousand (10,000) seats in the suites” (hospitality boxes). Ellis Park was and is an all-seater stadium.
As at Hillsborough, it had not been the form of spectator accommodation in their area of the stadium that killed the victims of the disaster, but rather the failings of people charged with ensuring their safe admission to the ground. Indeed, if we look at the causes of numerous disasters at large public gatherings, the most frequent cause is poor management of crowds as they enter or leave the venue, totally regardless of whether it is all-seater or a venue offering standing accommodation as well as seats.
An online list of stadium disasters catalogues some 20 events where large public gatherings ended in a tragic loss of life. Below is a summary of all the fatal disasters listed there from the 20th and 21st centuries, which starts with an event not in a football stadium, but in an all-seater concert hall and which shows quite clearly that the most common cause of such disasters is poor crowd management at the point of entry or exit:
Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, Ohio, December 1979
11 dead in a rush for seats at this all-seater venue ahead of a concert by The Who
Accra Sports Stadium, May 2001
127 dead, falling on stairs trying to escape tear gas in this all-seater stadium
Stade Armand Cesari, France, 5th May 1992
18 dead as a temporary all-seater stand collapsed
Bradford City, 11th May 1985
56 dead as a wooden all-seater stand caught fire and fans were unable to escape
Burnden Park, 9th March 1946
33 dead, as poor control of incoming fans led to overcrowding of rudimentary terrace
Estadio Mateo Flores, Guatemala, 16th October, 1996
83 dead, caused by overcrowding before kick-off in this all-seater stadium
Estadio Nacional, Lima, Peru, 24th May, 1964
320 dead, as locked gates trapped fans fleeing tear gas in this all-seater stadium
Heysel Stadium, 29th May 1985
39 dead, as rioting caused a crumbling wall to collapse
Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Ivory Coast, 29th March, 2009
19 dead, caused by fans falling on each other on entering this all-seater ground
Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Ivory Coast, 1st January, 2013
61 dead, caused by a crowd stampede after leaving this all-seater stadium
Ibrox, Glasgow, 5th April 1902
25 dead, as a wooden terrace collapsed
Ibrox, Glasgow, 2nd January, 1971
66 dead, caused by fans falling on a stairway as they left the game
Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, Athens, Greece, 8th February 1981
21 dead, caused by fans falling in a rush to leave this all-seater stadium
Kathmandu Stadium disaster, 12th March 1988
93 dead, as fans in a tunnel fleeing a hail storm were trapped by locked gates
Kayseri Atatürk Stadium disaster, 17th September 1967
40 dead, as fans fleeing fights were trapped by locked gates in this all-seater ground
Luzhniki disaster, Central Lenin Stadium, Moscow, 20th October 1982
66 dead, caused by fans falling on an exit stairway leaving this all-seater stadium
Oppenheimer Stadium disaster, 13th January 1991
42 dead, trying to escape fighting, trampled or crushed against fences
Port Said Stadium riot, 1st February 2012
79 dead at this all-seater ground, after rioting linked to civil unrest and revolution
Zamalek Stadium disaster, Cairo, 17th February 1974
48 dead, caused by extreme overcrowding and collapsing walls before kick-off
In addition to these events catalogued in that online list of stadium disasters, poor management of moving crowds has also led to tragedy at the recording of a TV show, at music festivals and at annual pilgrimages:
PhilSports Stadium stampede, Metro Manila, Philippines, 4th February 2006
73 dead, as crowds stumbled and fell on entry to this all-seater arena for a TV show
The Love Parade, Duisburg, Germany, 24th July 2010
21 dead, in a crush trying to enter an outdoor festival
Hajj, Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Numerous stampedes causing the death of thousands of pilgrims over the years
Whether it was religious devotees making for a place of pilgrimage, festival goers trying to enter an open-air venue, music fans rushing into an all-seater concert hall or football fans entering or leaving a stadium, if the people responsible for ensuring they could do so safely failed to perform their duties efficiently, this could, and sadly did, lead to disaster. Whether the venue was an open field, an all-seater arena or a stadium with standing accommodation had no bearing on those crowd management failures.
As we enter 2014 with the new inquests into the Hillsborough deaths just around the corner, this is a key fact that should not be overlooked. As Sheila Coleman of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign recently told the Liverpool Echo: “We don’t want the standing issue to be used as a diversion from the investigations that are ongoing at the moment. We need to be clear: standing didn’t kill people at Hillsborough, it was other factors. Our main focus will be challenging the establishment.”
Indeed, one might argue that not only could the standing issue be a diversion from the ongoing investigations, but that to assert that standing is unsafe could actually undermine the fight for justice. For if standing per se is unsafe, then those under investigation for their part in the failings that led to the Hillsborough disaster can claim it was an accident waiting to happen and that they were not to blame. It can help them to get off the hook. Asserting that standing is unsafe thus weakens the case against them considerably.
Rail seats enable excellent crowd management for safe standing
As the examples above show, standing does not kill. Poor crowd management kills. Acknowledging that well managed standing is safe will help to ensure the best chance of achieving justice for the 96 over the coming months. Continuing to support the standing ban flies in the face of logic and puts the chance of gaining justice at risk.
Peter Caton is the author of ‘Stand Up, Sit Down: A Choice To Watch Football‘, in which he considers the arguments for and against spectators having the choice to stand. A lifelong West Ham fan, Peter was co-founder of the ‘Stand Up, Sit Down’ campaign and is an active member of the Football Supporters Federation.
Steven Gerrard claims a Premier League winners medal would top Liverpool's UEFA Champions League glory of 2005.
The talismanic midfielder captained Liverpool to the European crown with a dramatic victory over AC Milan in Istanbul in a memorable finale, but admits it is the English title he craves so dearly.
Liverpool find themselves well in contention this season, currently sitting fourth, just six points behind league leaders Arsenal, and the Reds captain believes it is the most competitive title race in years.
Gerrard has been at Anfield 16-and-a-half years but is yet to lift the Premier League trophy and admits words would not be able to describe the feeling should he be able to do so come May.
"[Winning] it scares me really," Gerrard told Sky Sports' Geoff Shreves in an exclusive interview.
"I don't know how I'd handle myself. When I won the Champions League, for the week after, talk about being on cloud nine, all your clichés, it's even better than that.
"If I could add a Premier League title to my collection it would probably be the best day of my life besides my kids being born; I think it would almost top the Champions League because it's the one I haven't got."
Only one team has finished outside the top four with 21 wins in a season - Tottenham last term - and with 18 games to play and nine victories required to meet that target, Gerrard sees no reason why Liverpool will not be competing among the continent's elite next year.
"That gives us hope, I'm confident we can get that amount of wins to get us in the top four but it's easier said than done," he added.
"We've got some very difficult fixtures coming up but our home form is very good and if we can click away from home, I'm very confident we can get in there.
"If you offered me fourth spot now, yes [I would take it]. The reason I would take it is we've been out of the Champions League for so long, the chance to get Champions League football back here at Anfield, I'd snap your hands off."
Gerrard was forced to sit out the hectic Christmas period due to a hamstring injury and concedes that watching from the sidelines is a difficult experience for any player, and was made even more so by their title tilt.
"I think any footballer would echo being out is the worst time, you feel out of it, you don't feel part of the group, it can be lonely when you're in the gym doing your rehab," he said.
"To be back in amongst the group and training and I've had some minutes, I'm ready to fire now, hopefully I'll be in from the start.
"It was made worse because of the games I knew I was going to miss, Spurs away, City away, Chelsea away, three of the biggest games you play when you're fighting for a top four position.
"When I got the scan results I was told four to six weeks initially, so I knew the whole of the Christmas period I wasn't going to be available, so it was disappointing but even more so because of the games we were playing."
Only 16 points separate mid-table and the Champions League qualification spots this season and England captain Gerrard believes Liverpool could benefit from the tight competition, should they maintain their solid start, starting at Stoke on Sunday.
"I think the teams in the middle of the Premier League are very strong now, I think the league is improving year-by-year," he added.
"It gives us a fantastic opportunity to stay in amongst it. If we find some consistency we believe we can take one of the top four places and that was our aim at the beginning of the season.
"I think from positions four down to 14 you're in for a hell of a game, you're not guaranteed to take maximum points."
Despite Liverpool's home form under Brendan Rodgers showing signs of strength, the 33-year-old admits there is work to be done on the road if they are to become genuine title contenders.
"I think the key is always your home form, over the years we've dropped silly points at home, teams have come to Anfield with an attitude of 'we've got a chance'; but if you look at our home form under Brendan, it has been very strong and very consistent," Gerrard said.
"If you get your home form right, then you can build on your away form. Our away form's been a little bit inconsistent but that's what we're working on and if we can get that right we'll be a force in this league."
Steven Gerrard claims a Premier League winners medal would top Liverpool's UEFA Champions League glory of 2005.
The talismanic midfielder captained Liverpool to the European crown with a dramatic victory over AC Milan in Istanbul in a memorable finale, but admits it is the English title he craves so dearly.
Liverpool find themselves well in contention this season, currently sitting fourth, just six points behind league leaders Arsenal, and the Reds captain believes it is the most competitive title race in years.
Gerrard has been at Anfield 16-and-a-half years but is yet to lift the Premier League trophy and admits words would not be able to describe the feeling should he be able to do so come May.
"[Winning] it scares me really," Gerrard told Sky Sports' Geoff Shreves in an exclusive interview.
"I don't know how I'd handle myself. When I won the Champions League, for the week after, talk about being on cloud nine, all your clichés, it's even better than that.
"If I could add a Premier League title to my collection it would probably be the best day of my life besides my kids being born; I think it would almost top the Champions League because it's the one I haven't got."
Only one team has finished outside the top four with 21 wins in a season - Tottenham last term - and with 18 games to play and nine victories required to meet that target, Gerrard sees no reason why Liverpool will not be competing among the continent's elite next year.
"That gives us hope, I'm confident we can get that amount of wins to get us in the top four but it's easier said than done," he added.
"We've got some very difficult fixtures coming up but our home form is very good and if we can click away from home, I'm very confident we can get in there.
"If you offered me fourth spot now, yes [I would take it]. The reason I would take it is we've been out of the Champions League for so long, the chance to get Champions League football back here at Anfield, I'd snap your hands off."
Gerrard was forced to sit out the hectic Christmas period due to a hamstring injury and concedes that watching from the sidelines is a difficult experience for any player, and was made even more so by their title tilt.
"I think any footballer would echo being out is the worst time, you feel out of it, you don't feel part of the group, it can be lonely when you're in the gym doing your rehab," he said.
"To be back in amongst the group and training and I've had some minutes, I'm ready to fire now, hopefully I'll be in from the start.
"It was made worse because of the games I knew I was going to miss, Spurs away, City away, Chelsea away, three of the biggest games you play when you're fighting for a top four position.
"When I got the scan results I was told four to six weeks initially, so I knew the whole of the Christmas period I wasn't going to be available, so it was disappointing but even more so because of the games we were playing."
Only 16 points separate mid-table and the Champions League qualification spots this season and England captain Gerrard believes Liverpool could benefit from the tight competition, should they maintain their solid start, starting at Stoke on Sunday.
"I think the teams in the middle of the Premier League are very strong now, I think the league is improving year-by-year," he added.
"It gives us a fantastic opportunity to stay in amongst it. If we find some consistency we believe we can take one of the top four places and that was our aim at the beginning of the season.
"I think from positions four down to 14 you're in for a hell of a game, you're not guaranteed to take maximum points."
Despite Liverpool's home form under Brendan Rodgers showing signs of strength, the 33-year-old admits there is work to be done on the road if they are to become genuine title contenders.
"I think the key is always your home form, over the years we've dropped silly points at home, teams have come to Anfield with an attitude of 'we've got a chance'; but if you look at our home form under Brendan, it has been very strong and very consistent," Gerrard said.
"If you get your home form right, then you can build on your away form. Our away form's been a little bit inconsistent but that's what we're working on and if we can get that right we'll be a force in this league."
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