'Stevie's the definition of world class'

The captain held his nerve from the penalty spot at the death against Fulham to stick his spot-kick and ensure the Reds left London with maximum points in a 3-2 midweek victory. 

It was also Gerrard who sparked the club's comeback at Craven Cottage, with an outside-of-the-boot beauty which sliced open the home side's defence and dropped perfectly for Daniel Sturridge to devour.

It was the 33-year-old's ninth assist in the league campaign, which is the joint-highest, and also matched his best ever goal-service total (level with 2012-13 and 2008-09).

Rodgers, who revisited the performance in his pre-match press conference ahead of the FA Cup challenge against Arsenal, couldn't find enough enough superlatives for the skipper. 

"His pass the other night was out of this world. And then composure for the penalty. That's a world-class player," said the manager.

"You hear the term, and there's many who show you that quality when their team is 2-0 up in a game, but you see a real world-class player when you're down, and that's what Steven does."

Rodgers believes the character and calmness embodied by Liverpool will serve them well as the season enters its defining stages.

"At this moment in time we're full of confidence, our belief is high and the result the other night [against Fulham] gave us great confidence," he said.

"We weren't at our best in terms of what we were against Arsenal, but still our performance level [was good], we made 650-odd passes in the game.

"The most pleasing aspect was our character to come from behind twice, and the calmness we showed in the build up to the penalty. We kept probing, we kept passing, we still tried to find the spaces, we weren't lumping into the box and playing panic football in the last five minutes.

"We kept our composure, worked the space and eventually got the penalty. That's what we've done most of the season. We've made it difficult for teams in their own defensive third because of our aggression and quality."