Liverpool defender Glen Johnson: We will miss Steven Gerrard

Liverpool defender Glen Johnson has conceded that injury to captain Steven Gerrardis a blow for the team, but insists that his side have a good enough squad to cope. The England defender continued by saying that he is trying not to think about a shot at the league title, but admitted that if they are to challenge then the Anfield side need to tighten up defensively, particularly on the road.

Gerrard limped out of Saturday’s 4-1 win over West Ham with an ankle injury that could keep him out until mid-January.

“Any team without Stevie is going to miss him, clearly,” said Johnson.

“We have got a good squad and hopefully that [Gerrard's injury] is not as bad as it looks.”

Liverpool currently sit fifth in the Premier League table, five points behind leaders Arsenal, but Johnson insisted that he prefers not to concern himself with the table.

“Personally I don’t look at that,” he said. “It is in the back of your mind but if we keep picking up points we don’t have to worry about that, it will take care of itself. But we are good enough to be up there.”

“We have some tough away games coming up. We only worry about the next one and I am sure we will step it up for the so-called bigger teams.”

However he did admit that the side must improve defensively, a change that he feels will come as the defence becomes more settled:

“Every defender aims for a clean sheet. If you keep a clean sheet you can’t lose a game but on the other hand if you score four every week you are happy.”

“Of course there is going to be a point when you don’t score four. The back four has changed a bit through the games because of injury and illness, but we have some great players and once we get that togetherness back we’ll start keeping clean sheets.”

“If we can start scoring a few more goals away and pick up a few more points it will blend in nicely with our home record.”