Rodgers: We're focused on Ewood

The Reds' hopes of securing a top-four finish have suffered a blow in their last two outings with back-to-back losses to Manchester United and Arsenal.

Nonetheless, attentions will now turn to the midweek cup tie at Ewood Park, where Rodgers' side will aim to overcome the disappointment of those results and book a place in the competition's last four against Aston Villa at Wembley.

The manager is confident his players will be firmly focused on what's required against Blackburn and explained why having another game so quickly presents them with the perfect opportunity to get back on track.

"It's just important to have a game quickly when you lose," Rodgers told reporters at his pre-match press conference. "There's no doubt there is disappointment at losing those games having put ourselves in a great position - we'd worked very hard to get ourselves into the position we were in before the Manchester United game.

"We're honest enough as a group to focus and analyse that we did not perform well enough, and when you don't against top-quality squads then unfortunately you can lose. But it's gone now. We need to focus on doing the very best we can.

"The group is very committed to winning this trophy, but in order to do that you have to qualify and we know Blackburn will be a difficult game for us. Then we can look towards the league then and look to finish the season strongly.

"It's something we want to do as a group. We've made steady progress over a couple of seasons and arrived in a Champions League place last year and nearly won the league.

"A trophy this season will mark another step forward for us. Of course, it's a difficult game for us but getting to a final and winning a trophy is what we want."

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He added: "Blackburn have got some excellent players. They defended well when they came to Anfield. We'll go there really focused and determined - we can't wait to play again after the weekend's disappointment.

"We analysed it yesterday and now we move on. The players are fresh and focused to get a result. We've got a good couple of days now to work and prepare, we'll take that into the game and qualification is important now."

Following Saturday's 4-1 reversal to Arsenal at the Emirates, Rodgers spoke candidly about Liverpool's prospects of securing a return to the Champions League.

The boss admitted it would be difficult for his side to achieve a top-four finish, though he's keen to stress that doesn't mean the Reds are conceding defeat.

"I think after the game, I gave an answer which was logical; it's mathematics in terms of the difficulty we would have - but it's certainly not a mindset or an attitude," said Rodgers.

"The attitude of the team is to go right until the very end, as we've done in every single game we play in. It was purely mathematics - it's going to be difficult for us if the teams above us don't drop the points. We would have to win our seven games, but it's certainly something we're going to go into in order to do that. We want to go and win every single game we play in.

"In terms of the FA Cup, that was always an objective. On Wednesday, we'll look to reach our second semi-final of the season in the cup competitions. We made that a real strong objective for us this season, to do well in the cups, and this is an opportunity to get to another semi-final."

Meanwhile, Rodgers will assess his options for Blackburn over the next two days during training at Melwood.

Steven Gerrard, Martin Skrtel and Emre Can will be suspended for the trip to Ewood Park, while the fitness of some players will need to be checked on before deciding whether they can make the journey to Lancashire.

"We've got a number of players unavailable for the game and we just need to see on one or two of the injured ones we had for the weekend," said Rodgers. "We'll see how they are and see if they're available for Wednesday. We'll see how Mario is this morning."