Liverpool boss: Oldham defeat could be bad news for Arsenal

Liverpool's manager Brendan Rodgers on the touchline. Picture: Stephen Pond/EMPICS

Tuesday, January 29, 2013
3:42 PM

Brendan Rodgers believes his Liverpool side will be extra-motivated for Wednesday’s Premier League clash at Arsenal after their shock FA Cup exit at the hands of Oldham.

The Reds are back in action three days after their surprise 3-2 defeat to the League One strugglers in the fourth round.

The result was even more disappointing considering Liverpool have been in decent form following their shaky start to the season, winning eight of their previous 11 games.

But Rodgers is confident there will be no cup hangover, saying: “It’s quite easy (to move on). It’s one of the things you have to be able to do in modern football, and especially at a club like this.

“However, disappointing the cup was, we’ll get a reaction on Wednesday. Just seeing the players, the small group we had working (on Monday morning), they had a real focus and concentration.

“That hurts, and I’m glad it does, because that shows that they care. We’ll enter the game with even greater motivation to win.

“We’ve seen over the last few weeks the quality in the group so we mustn’t forget that as well, however disappointing Sunday was.

“We must really focus in on the game on Wednesday, it’s an opportunity against a good opponent but an opponent that’s around about us in terms of points so we have to go there with the confidence and focus that we’ve shown in the league of late.

“And if we do that we’ll have a great chance of getting a good result.”