Liverpool’s captain fantastic Steven Gerrard has thrown caution to the wind concerning the Reds’ title ambitions after last week’s stunning 2-1 comeback win over champions Manchester United at Anfield.
While Liverpool remains England’s most successful club, it has been an unimaginable 18 years since the Reds last won the domestic league title.
Liverpool take on English Premier League new boys Stoke City tomorrow evening (12:00am AEST) with an opportunity to reclaim top spot, at least temporarily, prior to Chelsea’s crunch match with Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.
But 'Stevie G' as he is known by adoring Reds' fans has refused to get carried away, having witnessed a number of false dawns in Liverpool’s recent history.
The Reds’ captain feels this Liverpool side is better equipped to challenge for honours (compared to previous seasons) when key players are missing, but fell short of making any rash predictions.
"It's easy to get carried away at times, but it's too early to start making any sort of statements," Gerrard told LiverpoolFC.tv
"I've done it in the past, where I've said we've got a good chance in this or that year, only to see us fall short.
"I think we're better equipped to go closer this year but that's as far as I'll go at the moment. I don't want to raise anyone's expectations too high in only the second month of the season.
"The plan is to still be in with a chance with five or 10 games to go. We have to be challenging."
Liverpool’s recent run of good form in Europe continues with a 2-1 victory away to Marseille.
With star striker Fernando Torres and Gerrard starting from the bench in last week’s win over United, Gerrard believes it speaks volumes about the team’s progression under coach Rafa Benitez.
"Any team suffers when their star striker is missing," said Gerrard.
"Fernando scores a large part of our goals now, but he brings so much to the team, not just goals wise, but in terms of his work rate too.
"When a player of his class is missing you're obviously going to suffer a bit, but I'd like to think the squad is strong enough now to cope if any one of us is missing be it Torres, myself, Carra or any of the players."
Provided Chelsea defeat United on Sunday evening (AEST) and Liverpool put new boys Stoke to the sword, Liverpool would find themselves nine points clear of their arch-rivals in the early season running.