Lucas: Consider this as an opportunity
Liverpool left Manchester without reward on Boxing Day, but in midfielder Lucas Leiva's opinion the Reds can use defeat at the Etihad Stadium as a springboard to match performance with points.
The Brazilian completed 80 minutes against Manchester City earlier this week as a four-match winning streak was halted by strikes from Vincent Kompany and Alvaro Negredo after compatriot Philippe Coutinho had broken the deadlock.
Brendan Rodgers' team consequently dropped to fourth place in the Barclays Premier League having spent Christmas at the summit, and with a challenging trip to Chelsea next up on Sunday.
Speak to the Reds' No.21, though, and you are met with overwhelming positivity, with the 26-year-old adamant that the loss at City should do nothing to halt the momentum building so far this season.
Lucas told Liverpoolfc.com: "Of course everyone was really disappointed that we never got the three points, or at least a point. Everyone could see that we really went to win the game.
"I think we played some fantastic football. Maybe we felt a little bit unlucky with some of the decisions. If they were for us, not against us, it would have been a different result. We had some chances to score.
"Overall, it was a positive performance but of course we are disappointed because we lost. Now we have to move on - we have another big game and it becomes even more important after the defeat the other night.
"We showed against Tottenham as well, a big team, that we went there and played our football and passed the ball really well and we pressed. That's our main quality, when we press the team and try to play. We become a very hard team to beat.
"That's the way we have to play every game; Sunday will be another opportunity for us to show that we have great momentum despite the defeat we had against Manchester City."
The ever-improving pair of Jordan Henderson and Raheem Sterling were among those who had chances to secure a more profitable result for the Reds from an entertaining Etihad encounter.
Lucas has confidence that a similar display of creativity and graft could prove successful at Stamford Bridge tomorrow, as he and his teammates attempt to remain close to the league's pace-setters.
"The way we approached the game, went there and played our football - we didn't sit back and only try to defend - we wanted the ball and wanted to create chances. That's what happened," he added.
"If we approach every single game the way we did, we will probably win more than we lose. Of course, we'll try to improve on the mistakes that we made in the game and move on.
"Now we have another big game to get back on track, winning. It will be important because it's another team that is challenging with us at the top of the table.
"You can see that it's so close; the difference between the top and fifth or sixth is not many points. We just have to keep winning games and then, closer to the end of the season, we'll see where we will be.
"The way we are performing and winning games, we will have a good chance to achieve what we want at the end of the season."