Steven Gerrard netted a rare Merseyside derby hat-trick to fire Liverpool to an impressive 3-0 victory over rivals Everton at Anfield on Tuesday evening.
The Liverpool captain made himself a legend among the fans with his treble. “To beat Everton is always special so to get three goals I suppose is a little bit extra,” Gerrard said to Sky Sports after the clash.
Gerrard’s well-taken hat-trick was the first in a Merseyside derby since Ian Rush did so way back in 1982.
Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish said: “I don’t think anyone can doubt Steven’s quality. He has been a fantastic player for this club for his whole career and he always will be.
“There is no way I can extol his virtues and do him justice. The three goals he scored tonight were fantastic.
“I’ve not got the vocabulary to add to all the things people have said about Steven Gerrard but the important thing is we put in a fantastic performance and put three points on the board. Steven will rightly get the headlines but he will be the first to say he got help from his team-mates.”
The win was a boost for Liverpool’s Uefa Champions League hopes, with Gerrard hoping they can begin to find some consistency.
“Of course it’s been frustrating, the inconsistency we’ve been showing in the league is very frustrating,” he said. “We played very well against Arsenal and never got anything and then we never turned up at Sunderland.
“We’re going from one extreme to another at the moment we need to find the level of consistency where we go on a winning streak rather than win one lose one because otherwise we’ll find ourselves in a position in the league that we don’t want.”