Skrtel: We know how important Villa win could be
Martin Skrtel is targeting a confidence-boosting victory over Aston Villa this afternoon, insisting three points for Liverpool could prove vital as they aim to get back on the winning track.
The Reds have lost two and drawn one of their last three Barclays Premier League outings and the No.37 concedes their form needs to improve – starting against Tim Sherwood’s side today.
Skrtel told Liverpoolfc.com: “A win could be massive for us. In the last three games, we have only picked up one point and that’s not enough.
“We know what we need to do better and we will definitely do that. If we can get the three points, it will be massive for our confidence to take into the next few games.
“We know from past seasons it’s not easy to play against them, especially at Anfield, but we want to win and get the three points because after the games against United, West Ham and Norwich we need them – and we will do everything possible to get them.”
Villa boast a good record at Anfield in recent years – they are unbeaten on their last four visits to Merseyside, picking up two wins and two draws.
Christian Benteke scored three times in those four matches before swapping Villa Park for Merseyside in the summer.
Villa moved to replace the Belgian with Blackburn Rovers’ Rudy Gestede, a player Skrtel and his teammates faced in last season’s FA Cup quarter-final.
The Slovakian warned: “He’s similar to Christian. He’s a physical player – a big, strong lad – and is very dangerous in the box, so we have to be steady and look after him for 90 minutes.
“If you leave him space, he’s able to score – but it's not only him, they have plenty of other players who are dangerous. We will try to play our game and get the three points.
“They have a good record here, but we have to forget about that and just be focused on the game on Saturday and get a win. That would be very good for us.”
Despite Liverpool’s recent run of form, Skrtel admits he was buoyed by their second-half display in last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Norwich City.
The Reds followed that up by tallying nearly 50 shots at goal over the course of 120 minutes against Carlisle United in midweek and the centre-back is convinced their luck in front of the net will turn for the better soon.
“I think in the game we played against Norwich, the performance in the second half was much better – it was just missing goals,” said Skrtel.
“We have to take those positives from the game against Norwich, play our game, move the ball quickly and take our chances.
“I am pretty sure we will create chances [against Villa], we just need to take them and score more goals.”