The Reds scored four goals in the first 20 minutes as they hammered the Gunners 5-1 at Anfield and the manager is delighted with his side’s continued improvement

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers hailed his side’s performance in Saturday’s 5-1 thrashing of Arsenal as “absolutely out of this world”.

The Reds were in unstoppable form at Anfield, blasting four goals in the first 20 minutes, with doubles for Martin Skrtel and Raheem Sterling as well as a goal for Daniel Sturridge.

“We were brilliant,” Rodgers enthused to the press. “[It was] a wonderful performance in such a prestigious game.

“Not just the result but the performance level was absolutely out of this world.”

The result furthers Liverpool’s hopes of maintaining their position in the top four, though Rodgers is calm on the possibility of going a step further and winning the Premier League.

He continued: I’m very pleased and it’s another marker for us that we’re getting better and improving all the time.

“We’re just trying to finish as high as we possibly can. For us, this year was hopefully going to be another big step for our development.

“The players have been incredible and we just hope to continue that development and see where it takes us. It’s a very young side but [they have] a wonderful appetite for the game and a wonderful ability to learn.

“They want to learn, they want to progress and you can see as time goes on that idea for us to press well and pass well – and that was key for us today. We do a lot of work on our pressing – I always feel that if we press well we can pass well.

“These games are normally very tight games but I feel we could have gone on and scored more. I was really pleased with how we managed the game. At 4-0, the crowd are so excited and were wanting us to go for the throat but it’s important we can manage the game as well and that was a really pleasing aspect.”

Rodgers hailed a number of individuals but paid a particularly warm tribute to Sterling, whom the manager feels, based on form, is the best player in his position across the Premier League.

“Raheem Sterling was incredible. He’s just turned 19 years of age and I don’t think there’s a better winger in England at this moment in time,” the Reds boss declared. “He was absolutely phenomenal.”