I won't pick Steven Gerrard out of sentiment, says Liverpool's Brendan Rodgers

If Liverpool beat Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday, they will be favourites to return to the European elite

Steven Gerrard will not be an automatic pick for Liverpool as his Anfield career nears its end (Getty)

There are at most 13 matches of Steven Gerrard’s Liverpool career left and, now he is fit, the question is how many he will play.

Liverpool is a sentimental, romantic city and Anfield is probably the most romantic and sentimental place on Merseyside. For some managers, if Liverpool’s captain wanted to start the lot, he would.

However, since Gerrard played his last match, the 3-2 win over Tottenham on 10 February, Liverpool have gone into overdrive, winning their next four Premier League games to put them within touching distance of the Champions League places. If they beat Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday, they will be favourites to return to the European elite.

“This guy is one of the greatest players in the history of the Premier League and, arguably, the greatest player this club has had. But what I do know is that Stevie always puts the team first,” said Brendan Rodgers as he prepared for Monday’s game at Swansea, the club where he made his managerial reputation. “I am not one who makes emotional decisions on whether I like someone or not. For me, it is about finding the right balance in a team.”

Rodgers said the return of Lucas Leiva from injury was as important as Gerrard’s availability. And he added: “Stevie has big qualities that we will need between now and the end of the season. But as a manager there are things you have to manage. There is managing the situation here with a player moving towards the end of his career.

“These are the challenges – like managing Luis Suarez and Jamie Carragher. It is about managing these situations while trying to build a team to make the club competitive again at the highest level. You earn your money.”

The money available to Liverpool if they qualify for the Champions League is between £30m and £40m and they are on course for it. They have not lost in the league since Manchester United beat them 3-0 at Old Trafford in mid-December. It was in the 4-1 victory over Swansea at the end of that month that Liverpool, remoulded in a 3-4-3 formation, really began to see their season turn around.

This time last year, however, Liverpool were charging towards their first league title in nearly a quarter of a century – and they fell at the last. You wonder how well this team copes with pressure.

“We dealt really well with the pressure last season,” said Rodgers. “We won 12 out of 14 in the run-in and it was unfortunate that we lost one. OK, it was the one that mattered [against Chelsea when Gerrard’s slip allowed Demba Ba to run through on goal]. It wasn’t through not being able to deal with the pressure. We were unlucky that day – we conceded right at the end of the first half and right at the end of the second. We dealt with it remarkably well.

“Our game is about being able to deal with the ball, technically, and that is a big part of why my teams do well in the second part of a season – our game is based on dealing with pressure because they have the courage to play.”