Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has lavished praise on Arsenal after losing 2-0 at the Emirates last weekend, insisting that the Gunners deserve to be considered genuine title contenders.
The Reds lost for only the second time this season on Saturday, with goals from Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey helping Arsenal open up a five-point gap at the top of the table.
Rodgers believes that Arsenal have enough quality to sustain their fine start to the campaign, but also insisted that Liverpool have shown a marked improvement over 10 games and can target Champions League qualification as a result.
He told The Mirror: "Arsenal are winning the race. These ten games that we've all played. People say that it's early. You don't get them back. You don't get to play them again!
"You have to make the points. At the moment, we're on 20 points and they're on 25. The great thing is that there's still a lot of time to make those points up. But at the moment Arsenal are high on confidence. They will be pleased with the win. The better team won, make no mistake about that.
"Arsenal have wonderful technicians, good mobility, Mesut Ozil is world class, Ramsey has taken his game to another level, Mikel Arteta is a good player, Cazorla joining in, Tomas Rosicky, five players who are top class technicians and we had three in there."
Liverpool will aim for a return to winning ways at Anfield when the Premier League resumes this weekend, with Fulham their opponents on Saturday.
Liam Power
