Dejan Lovren: "Liverpool's confidence is back ahead of semi-final"

Dejan Lovren is convinced the confidence has returned to Liverpool's team after they beat Newcastle United on Monday night.

The Reds overcame back-to-back league losses with a 1-0 win at Blackburn Rovers in mid-week after Philippe Coutinho's strike, whilst goals from Raheem Sterling and Joe Allen saw them take a 2-0 triumph over the Magpies at Anfield.

The successive victories will come as a huge pyschological boost going into this weekend's FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa - after their season had looked in tatters following a 4-1 defeat at Arsenal - but Lovren believes that the Reds have good reason to approach this Sunday's game at Wembley with confidence.

"We had difficult moments in the last few games against the big teams. It didn’t go the way we wanted," said the Croatian centre-back.

"But now, after the cup win and this game, the confidence is back. That is the most important thing. We just need to continue to be calm and do our job.

"We need to be calm this week, to prepare ourselves, because we know it will be a tough game against Aston Villa and we want to go to the final."

It has not been an easy season for anyone at Liverpool, but Lovren has slowly began to find his feet on Merseyside after a tenuous few starting months.

Now, with Mamadou Sakho set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines, Lovren could find himself in for a sustained stint in Brendan Rodgers' team, which he insists he is ready for.

"It was a difficult start for everyone, not just for me," he continued. "Now I’m settled in and I’m enjoying playing. It was an important clean sheet for everyone’s confidence.

"It was the first time Emre [Can] and I played together, because he’s not used to being in the back four. He did an amazing job. He’s doing a great job here at Liverpool. He can play in almost every position. He’s unbelievable."

Asked about whether the Reds can still maintain a fight for fourth-place, Lovren said: "We knew that we’d have a difficult game and we knew that we needed to win if still want to be in the top four.

"We had a little bit of pressure because we are also waiting for the FA Cup semi-final, so it was a good win for our confidence. We just need to continue like this and I think we’ll be fine for the semi-final."