Jordan Henderson has urged his Liverpool teammates to 'keep fighting' in order to ensure Sunday's disappointing defeat to Manchester United is a minor blip in a successful season for the club.

The Reds' chances of securing a top-four finish in the Barclays Premier League took a hit as Louis van Gaal's side secured a smash-and-grab victory at Anfield having been on the back foot for much of the 90 minutes.

The skipper has not yet given up hope of closing the gap to the Champions League qualification places over the course of the 16 games that remain, however.

And with Jürgen Klopp's team having reached the semi-finals of the Capital One Cup, the knockout stages of the Europa League, and still in the FA Cup, Henderson is confident the 2015-16 campaign can be a fruitful one.

"We have to keep going right until the very end and see what happens. Like I have always said, whether you are in the mix or you are not, you have to take each game as it comes," he said.

"At the minute, we are not but we have to keep fighting, keep putting performances in I am sure we will win more than we lose.

"We want to win every trophy we can, whether it is FA Cup, Capital One Cup or Europa League. Whatever it is, we need to make sure we give our all. But at the minute, it is hard to reflect because it is so disappointing."

Although the result against United was not the one Liverpool had hoped for, Henderson took heart from the level of performance throughout a game he and his colleagues dominated.

But the 25-year-old insisted the Reds must take their chances in future if they are to see their endeavour rewarded.

"Of course it is disappointment," the England midfielder added. "In terms of performance it was good at times, but obviously not good enough to win the game.

"We scored three the other night (against Arsenal) and we are creating chances. We just couldn’t finish them off (against United) for whatever reason. We just have to keep going.

"As players we just have to give everything for now and try and win as many games, put in as many performances as possible.

"I really believe we have a good squad of players, but games like Sunday we need to be winning. We need to be better in certain areas but we need to keep going right until the end of the season and see where we are."