Jordan Henderson acknowledges that Liverpool’s victory in the derby could not make up for their dismal start to the year. Still, he has urged Jurgen Klopp’s team to carry the enthusiasm into their crucial match against Newcastle United.
On Monday night at Anfield, Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah scored goals either side of halftime to give the Reds a 2-0 victory over Everton, ending their longest league winless streak since they were demoted from the top division in 1954.
After their disappointing 3-0 loss to relegation-threatened Wolverhampton Wanderers in their previous game, Liverpool had nine days to think about it.
And Henderson, who was reinstated to the starting lineup after five games, thinks the performance was a positive step in the right direction.
He said, “I thought the entire performance was top-notch from start to end. “We were all there because we knew it was a crucial game for us.
“We provided. Our performances don’t make up for the previous few weeks, but it’s unquestionably a step in the right way. It resembled us more.
“It was a massive week for us internally. We knew after the last couple of weeks and particularly the previous game, we had a little amount of time after the final match as this was a Monday night. We have nine days, training has been very nice this week, and we get that into the game, and that’s the most satisfying thing.
Liverpool will travel to fourth-place Newcastle on Saturday night and are nine points behind them despite having a game in hand.
Henderson responded when asked if the victory against Everton may serve as a campaign’s turning point: “We get a nice feeling from this win, for sure, but the next game is a tough test at Newcastle; only we can make it happen.
“They’re flying this season and haven’t lost in a long time; it’s a really, really hard place to go and play, but if we can execute as we did against Everton and more, you never know what might happen, we need to be what we like against Everton, and if we perform that on Saturday, we have a chance.”