Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers revels in home comforts of Anfield

Liverpool face Swansea at Anfield, Tottenham away to Norwich, and Newcastle manager says players playing for their futures against Aston Villa.

Brendan Rodgers says his Liverpool side ‘look to own the pitch’ against opponents at Anfield, where they host Swansea on Sunday, February 23, 2014. Paul Ellis / AFP

Brendan Rodgers believes Liverpool’s consistent home form is down to their desire to “own the pitch”.

Liverpool’s fourth place in the table is largely down to their record at Anfield, where they have dropped just five points from 13 games.

Liverpool have won nine of their past 10 home games in the Premier League to become genuine title contenders, and will look to carry on that record when Rodgers’s old club Swansea City visit Sunday.

“It’s something we’ve been building towards,” he said.

“We’ve started well in a lot of the games, and you align that with the support we’ve got, which is remarkable, and that’s really helped us with this home form.

“We go into every game, obviously in particular our home games, looking to own the pitch. It’s our home ground, our changing rooms, our field, our supporters, so we have to play like we own it.”

Rodgers is looking for an immediate response from his side after they exited the FA Cup last weekend to Arsenal 2-0, just eight days after they had beaten the same opponents 5-1 in the league.

“Last week we were disappointed to go out of the cup,” he said. “You could see the players’ reactions after the game because we wanted to do well in it and our performance level was very good.

“Unfortunately we lost the game and now we really focus in on the only competition that is left. The objective’s the same, to really do the very best we can in every game.”

Meanwhile, Tim Sherwood, the Tottenham Hotspur manager, is wary of his side's opponents today, relegation-threatened Norwich City.

While Tottenham cruised to a 4-0 win at Newcastle United in their last game, Sherwood is not expecting an easy ride from Norwich.

“Norwich are desperate for points. They might not come out and be expansive against us but we have to approach every game differently,” he said.

“Newcastle in our last away performance was a bit different. Newcastle came out with their expectant crowd up there and tried to play against us. We might come up against a different type but we are not sure yet, we will have to wait and see.”

Christian Eriksen, the Tottenham midfielder, shared his manager’s expectations of Norwich, adding: “A lot of teams sit back against us and wait for the counter-attack.

“We have to try to open them up and take our chances. We know in the Premier League we’ve scored goals recently. We’re also good away from home, so hopefully we’ll continue that on Sunday.”

Manager Alan Pardew has confirmed some of his Newcastle players will be playing for their futures at the club in the remaining 12 games of the season, starting today at Aston Villa.

Newcastle, who are ninth in the table, have stalled in recent weeks with a run of three successive league defeats seeing them lose touch with the top six.

Pardew is already planning a summer recruitment drive after losing key midfielder Yohan Cabaye to Paris Saint-Germain last month, and with question marks hanging over several members of his current squad and others out of contract, there is likely to be a significant number of departures.

“Yes, I think some are,” he said when asked if some of his squad’s futures were in doubt.

“Others not so, but I am still looking for a level of performance and consistency that will maybe get them into a World Cup squad and make sure they are a regular next season at this football club.”