Brendan Rodgers Urges Liverpool to Push for Title ahead of Manchester City Clash

Brendan Rodgers has urged his team to buck up and mount a challenge for the title this season after topping the table on Christmas.

Liverpool are ahead of Arsenal on goal difference and have made it to the top of the Premier League table for the first time during Christmas since the 2007/08 season. Recent trends suggest that the team who are top of the table on Christmas go on to win the Premier League at the end of the season and all teams over the past four years have replicated the same. However, Liverpool were the last team to go against the rule and Rodgers is hoping that a similar fate does not befall them this year.

Rodgers has two tough away games before the turn of the year with Liverpool travelling to the Etihad to face Manchester City on Boxing Day, followed by a trip to Stamford Bridge to take on Chelsea before the New Year. Their results here will determine their title credentials and realise if the Reds are capable of taking the game to their more decorated rivals. However, for now, Rodgers wants the supporters to cherish the moment and dream about winning the title.

"You don't get the rewards at Christmas. It is a nostalgic time and people always want to know where the team is at around Christmas Day. We want to be there but we want to be there at the end of the season and for that there is a lot of hard work ahead," Rodgers said.

"It is brilliant for supporters, I am not going to deny them a dream - it is nice for us all to dream. It has been a hard period in this club for four or five years and this (being top) was probably a distant thought for them.

"They have to enjoy it but for me as a manager my concentration has always been and always will be on the next game. That has served us well and seen us grow so I won't change that. Strategically we have to keep pushing the club forward.

"We can't be complacent and we won't be because we haven't done anything yet. We are top at Christmas, which is great, but we need to continue that run in the second half of the season," he concluded.