Shelvey: Villa win is crucial

After Villa, a trip to Blackburn at Ewood Park on Tuesday night awaits Kenny Dalglish's men and Shelvey is keen to feature in both of those fixtures after starting against Newcastle on Sunday.

The 20-year-old was named in the manager's starting XI when the Reds beat Villa in December last year and so he knows full-well that, despite them being 15^th in the Barclays Premier League, Saturday's opposition will be tough to overcome.

"We need to win these next two games against Villa and then Blackburn away," he told Liverpoolfc.tv. "That gives us a bit of confidence to push on to the semi at Wembley the following Saturday. It will be a huge game for the city.

"I played in the game away [at Villa Park] and I thought we played very well that day and we beat them 2-0. I thought they were a difficult team to play against but they're going through a difficult time at the moment."

The England U21 international told how training at Melwood has been as competitive as ever this week, with a starting role in the Wembley semi-final at stake.

And after forcing his way into the starting line-up at the weekend, Shelvey is focused on regaining a spot in the side.

"I've been pushing myself in training to try and get myself into the starting XI," he said. "I felt that I deserved a chance in the starting XI and hopefully I did enough to keep my place or be involved in some part.

"The training's been very good, everyone's been pushing for a place to start and everyone wants to be involved a bit more. But obviously we've had a couple of disappointing results lately, so on Saturday we need to win and give the fans what they want and what we want.

"When you get in the final third, you need to take your chances and I don't think we've done that enough this season. So hopefully we can do a bit more shooting in training and bring it to Anfield."