Liverpool coach stays grounded as title charge gains pace

Liverpool: Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers refused to join with supporters in growing excited about his team's prospects of winning a first Premier League title, despite going to the top of the table on Sunday.

Yet he did admit that it had been another impressive performance in crushing Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 for an eighth successive league victory. "To perform like we did right from the first whistle was immense and I'm very proud of the team," he said.

"We don't feel the pressure, we're very confident in how we play. You can see the confidence in how the players pass the ball, the movement and the intensity. It was a wonderful team performance. We've shown flexibility in the way we play, we flipped back to 4-3-3 today and everybody knows their job."

Liverpool won the last of their 18 top-flight titles in 1990, when it was known as the First Division, but have never finished top of the pile since it was re-branded as the Premier League.

With six games remaining, they are two points clear of Chelsea in second and four ahead of third-place Manchester City, who have played two matches fewer. Both their title rivals still have to visit Anfield in the run-in, where Liverpool have lost once all season.

Rodgers said he was looking no further than the next game, however, away to West Ham United next Sunday.

"We can only concentrate on ourselves and our next task is to analyse West Ham. The main thing is just to prepare the team and see how far it takes us."

Midfielder Jordan Henderson was equally matter-of-fact, saying: "We all dream of winning the Premier League one day and we've got a chance but at the same time we've just got to focus on the next game and see where we are at the end of the season."

Tottenham are sixth in the table, eight points adrift of north London rivals Arsenal in fourth.

Spurs manager Tim Sherwood admitted that their chances of finishing in the top four have virtually disappeared and that their record against the leading teams - seven defeats in eight matches - shows why.

"Perhaps it is a belief thing," he said. "A lot of these teams are better than us. The game today was pretty much finished after two mistakes early on and we were beaten by the better side."