Allen: We answered challenge of rivals
Joe Allen felt Liverpool passed a pressure test at Swansea City on Monday night and now wants to carry the momentum into a huge meeting with Manchester United this weekend.
The Reds had to sit back and watch as rivals Arsenal and United replenished their top four ambitions with 3-0 victories apiece during the two days before a trip to the Liberty Stadium.
With the number of remaining games dwindling, a response from Brendan Rodgers' team was paramount at a ground where the aforementioned sides had already lost this season.
One was produced, having survived a troublesome opening 45 minutes against a confident Swansea, when Jordan Henderson's perseverance proved fortuitous for a bizarre winner.
Allen told Liverpoolfc.com: "We got three points, that's the main thing.
"But we certainly did have to dig deep, especially in the first half - Swansea were the better side and made it really difficult for us.
"I think we can count ourselves maybe a little bit lucky not to have gone in behind. But thankfully we regrouped at half-time.
"It was important, with that performance, to get in at 0-0. We came out and gave a much better account of ourselves and got the three points."
Reacting to the problems caused by the Welsh outfit in the first half, Rodgers altered his formation to a diamond midfield in an effort to quell the hosts' creativity.
It worked. Suddenly, the traffic was heading in the opposite direction. Liverpool had possession and were beginning to pick out gaps in the Swans' defence.
Henderson ran into space on 68 minutes, refusing to give up a cause, and earned his rewards as Jordi Amat's attempted clearance bounced off the No.14, high over the goalkeeper and into the net.
"The manager said we needed to be better in all aspects of our game, and that was fair enough," Allen revealed of the half-time team talk by the boss.
"We weren't quite at the races. But we tweaked a couple of things; we limited them to very little in the second half and obviously got the goal ourselves."
At the home of his former club, Allen was at his industrious finest in the centre of the park.
Always keen to take the ball from a teammate, the midfielder's metronomic distribution kept the Reds flowing upon his return from a minor hip problem that ruled him out of the cup clash with Blackburn Rovers.
That absence aside, his recent displays have received rave reviews - which he attributes to a regular run of appearances in Rodgers' preferred XI.
Allen said: "I've spoken time and time again about the effect injuries can have on the momentum you get with performances and time out there.
"Thankfully, it was one game. We were pretty confident it would only be that game. It was great to be back out there and part of another winning performance."
The win over Swansea made it 13 matches unbeaten in the Barclays Premier League since a frustrating defeat by United at Old Trafford in December.
Gaining revenge, extending the run further and taking a step closer towards Champions League qualification are factors that provide plenty of motivation for Sunday's rematch.
"It will be significant, I'm sure," added Allen. "It's one that as players you always look forward to.
"It was important, with them getting three points at the weekend, that we answered with three points ourselves to keep within touching distance."