The Liverpool captain believes his side sent a message to their title rivals as they leapfrogged Manchester City and Arsenal into second place with the win over Southampton

Steven Gerrard has wished luck to any team opting to play two defenders against Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge for the remainder of the season.

Goals from Suarez, Raheem Sterling and Gerrard fired Liverpool to 3-0 victory over Southampton on Saturday.

“If teams wants to play two versus two against these two – Suarez and Sturridge – all the best,” Gerrard told Sky Sports.

The win at St Mary’s sees Liverpool leapfrog Arsenal, who lost at Stoke, and Manchester City into second place, four points behind leaders Chelsea.

When asked if the victory over Southampton sent a message to Liverpool’s title rivals, Gerrard replied: “Yeah I think we have.

“I see [Theo] Walcott is in your studio, they [Arsenal] lost today and we won.

“I’m sure many people in the Premier League are looking out for us because we’ve got no Europe. We’re fresh going into every game.

“All we asked for at the beginning of the season is ‘can we be in it with 10 games to go?’

“We are certainly in it. We’re still not the favourites. I think Chelsea and Manchester City are still the favourites but we need to keep going and try and win every game.

“With world-class players in your team like this fella [Suarez] you can beat anyone.”

Gerrard admits his team-mates will increase in confidence if their form continues but has called for composure with 10 Premier League games remaining.

“If we keep winning it’s going to grow. But it’s important to stay calm and take each game as it comes. I know it’s a cliché but that’s all we can do,” said the midfielder.

“We haven’t got the experience but we’ve got a lot of good things going for us as well.

“We’ll have to wait and see. The challenge now can we put in a good performance away at Old Trafford and let’s see where we are with four or five games [to go], why not?”