Jordan Henderson hailed Liverpool's "perfect away performance" at Southampton on Sunday afternoon, as they closed the gap to the top four to just two points.

Standing-in for Steven Gerrard as skipper, Henderson and his team-mates oversaw an excellent 2-0 win at a windy and wet St Mary's as they survived plenty of pressure and rode their luck with a few contentious refereeing decisions, but goals from Philippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling gave them a much-needed three points.

Brendan Rodgers' side battled hard for the victory, one that Henderson told reporters post-match that they had deserved.

"It's a big win," said Henderson. "We knew it was going to be difficult, they're a good side.

"We knew we would have to be at our best and we worked really hard.

"I think we were outstanding from defence right through the team. It was the perfect away performance really."

Liverpool got off to an ideal start, when Coutinho's 31-yard 61-mph effort crashed off the underside of the bar and over Fraser Forster's goal-line in just the third minute, but Henderson insisted the sensational strike came as no shock to him.

The midfielder added: "The goal's outstanding but he does it quite a lot in training! You can see the quality he's got.

"It's a great weekend for us (with Manchester United and Spurs dropping points) but the most important thing is that we won and keep working and keep concentrating on what we need to do and the rest will look after itself."

Man-of-the-match Martin Skrtel, who was imperious in central defence as the Reds kept a fifth consecutive clean sheet on the road, added: "It was hard, maybe we were defending most of the time. It's always up to the referee (on penalties).

"But I think we've done well, scored two goals and got the three points, which was massive for us.

"It was what we wanted. We've got the game in the Europa League now [against Besiktas] and then another big game against Manchester City, so we wanted to win to get confidence and we got that, so we can be happy."

The Reds, the in-form team in the Premier League having gone 10 games unbeaten, next face title-chasing Manchester City at Anfield in a mouthwatering clash.

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About the author
Charlie Malam
Digital Sports Writer at the Daily Express. First-class Staffordshire University Sports Journalism graduate. Formerly VAVEL UK's Liverpool FC editor and Deputy Editor-in-Chief. Contributor since June 2014.