SAS duo lauded as Premier League best
There was an extra layer of icing on the cake of Liverpool's 5-3 victory at Stoke City on Sunday for Jordan Henderson, with the renewed combination of the unstoppable Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez.
At the Britannia Stadium, the latter registered his 21st and 22nd goals of his incredible campaign and consistently occupied the home defence with ceaseless work-rate and creativity.
For his part, the returning Sturridge rose from the bench midway through the second period to expertly lay on his strike partner's second effort before converting from close range himself to seal a huge win.
Henderson considers the pair - who have notched 32 goals between them in the Barclays Premier League - to be the finest duo in the division and does not envision an end to their prowess.
"For me, they are the best partnership in the league," the midfielder reflected to the Liverpool Echo after the encounter with the Potters.
"Daniel has missed a lot of games and had only trained a few times before this game. But when he came on and linked up with Luis it was like he had never been away.
"It's just natural because they are top players and just know where each other is. Even in the warm-up before the game Daniel was buzzing to be back.
"He will be fresh for the rest of the season now and he's a great plus for us as he gives us another option. He's such a fantastic player and he has great movement. Him and Luis combined really well for a couple of the goals.
"It's really pleasing to see those two back playing together. With quality like that up front you know you can always score goals."
Before yesterday's action-packed triumph, the Reds had never previously claimed three points from a Premier League clash at the Britannia - where they were defeated 3-1 last season.
Brendan Rodgers' side reclaimed a place in the Premier League top four in the process, and Henderson highlighted the collective spirit displayed by his colleagues when Stoke mounted a comeback.
He added: "It's a massive win for us. It was a big game for us coming here as we knew it would be tough. They made it difficult but to come away with the three points is fantastic for us.
"The message at half-time was to try to forget about the last five minutes of that first half. Up until 40 minutes I thought we dominated the game.
"We kept the ball well, created a lot of chances and scored two goals. We were a little bit unlucky to go in at half-time at 2-2 but we coped with that very well.
"A lot of teams would have crumbled there but we came out fighting in the second half and thankfully got the three points."
Although it was Sturridge and Suarez who naturally received most of the plaudits post-match, Raheem Sterling was an equally impressive performer with searing pace and direct dribbling.
There was mutual agreement that improvement is needed from a defensive point of view, however, and Liverpool's No.14 pledged that the team will work hard to eradicate mistakes.
"Raheem did brilliantly," the midfielder added. "For the penalty he pressurised the ball really well. He won the ball back and then took the defender on and drew the foul.
"His work-rate was really good and he dug in. Defensively, we just have to be a little bit stronger as a team and stop making mistakes.
"We will work on that. We need to defend better as a team and manage the game a bit better at times.
"There's still lots to improve on but we're delighted with the win. We showed great character and looked very threatening going forward.
"The league is very tight and I am sure it will be like that until the end of the season. We just need to concentrate on ourselves and keep working hard."