SCOTLAND captain Andrew Robertson has hit back at claims that Liverpool are crumbling under the pressure of a tense title race.
The Reds have seen their lead over Manchester City at the summit of the English Premier League close from seven points to three in the space of a week after disappointing draws against Leicester and West Ham.
However, Robertson is adamant the Anfield stars are not feeling the strain as the fight to bring the top-flight crown back to Merseyside for the first time since 1990 - and maintains their position is still the envy of the rest of the league.
He said: “I wouldn't say nerves are showing. Did anyone say that when City picked up no points from Leicester and Palace? I don't think they did. It's no different for us.
“A lot of people talk about pressure because we haven't been in this position - but it's February. Everybody needs to relax and enjoy the run-in.
“I'm sure many other teams would want to be in the position we are now.
“Nerves aren't showing in the changing room, it's just been two poor results and poor performances. That happens over the course of the season and we might even look back on West Ham as a good point. We don't know that. We just need to get back to playing the football we can.”
Liverpool will seek to get back to winning ways when Bournemouth visit on Saturday before a mouth-watering clash with fierce foes Manchester United.
Robertson continued: “We just need to dust ourselves down and keep going.
“It’s about us. We need to get back on track and win games of football. We can't worry about them (Manchester City). They are having a good moment just now and we are having a little blip and weren't able to get over the line in a couple of games.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here