Steven Gerrard has vowed to try keep himself out of the spotlight as he prepares to return to Anfield with his Aston Villa side.
The new boss has won three of his first four games in charge at Villa, and next up is an emotional return to Liverpool, for whom he made 710 appearances in all competitions after breaking through from the academy.
The headlines write themselves, but as far as Gerrard is concerned, he is hoping that the two teams in action will attract most of the attention.
"We'll go to Anfield and try to make it as difficult as we can as we fight for every point available," said Gerrard (via the Daily Mail). "In terms of the emotions, that's for me deal to with.
"It's about the team and preparing them well to get a result. I will not make it about me. If others do, I can't control that, but it's about us going there with confidence and belief."
When asked whether he had any sentimental feelings heading into the game, Gerrard continued: "None, not at all. I just want to go there and try and win and try and take what we can.
“For us, we’re not competing with Liverpool in terms of the level we are both at the moment but we’ll certainly go there and give everything we’ve got.
“We took [Manchester] City to the wire and I believe we should have took something of the game with our second half performance.
“We go there with confidence and belief with three wins out of four and we’re going to make it as difficult as we can.”
Gerrard got one over on former Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers on Sunday as he led Villa to a 2-1 victory over Leicester City. The Villains now sit tenth in the Premier League standings, nine points clear of the relegation zone and eight behind the top four.
Liverpool, on the other hand, have jumped up to second after Chelsea dropped points at West Ham United, with Jurgen Klopp's men trailing Man City by just one point.
Source : 90min