Liverpool have sights set on second place as victory against Swansea leaves them just four points adrift of Manchester City 

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Brendan Rodgers says Liverpool have second place in their sights after they boosted their Champions League hopes in Swansea.

Jordan Henderson’s freak goal in the 68th minute ended Swansea’s spirited resistance and put Liverpool within two points off Manchester United.

The two biggest clubs in English football go head-to-head at Anfield this weekend and whoever wins will be favourites to finish in the top four.

Brendan Rodgers says Liverpool have second place in their sights following the win against Swansea City

Jordan Henderson (pictured) scored with a deflected strike that was enough to seal victory for the away side

Rodgers, however, insists Liverpool should be aiming higher and feels Manchester City’s defeat at Burnley has opened the table up.

Liverpool’s manager said: ‘The aim is to finish as high as we can. Everyone talks about fourth but it’s the same every year for me.

‘We do the best that we can do and the Manchester City result at the weekend gives us an opportunity to finish second so our mentality, the run and confidence we have at the moment we are just going to take that into every game and see where it takes us.’

This was Liverpool’s sixth consecutive away clean sheet in the league – they have not conceded on the road since losing at Old Trafford on December 14 – and defending provided the bedrock of this performance. They equalled a club record dating back to 1972.

Liverpool were not at their best in the opening 45 minutes and needed some smart interventions from goalkeeper Simon Mignolet before Steven Gerrard came on as a second half substitute to provide some composure.

Rodgers says Liverpool should be aiming higher and feels Manchester City’s defeat has opened the table up

Rodgers added: ‘What we did second half was run more without the ball and that notion for the team that you’ve got to move not just when you have the ball - you’ve got to run off it.

‘We talked at half-time about penetration and options for the guy in possession. But Steve came on and offered that calmness. We switched to a diamond in the second half and he came on and fitted into the bottom of that and his calmness and control was important to that.

‘You have to pay respect to the team as well .They’ve been playing well getting results and over the last 3 months we’ve been in great form but we have to pay attention.

‘He’d been out for a considerable period of time now but he is fit and you see how important he is when he came on.’

Liverpool are now just four points behind City, who struggled to a 1-0 defeat against Burnley on Saturday

Looking ahead to the showdown with United, Rodgers added: ‘We can now really look forward to that. We needed a result so to get the victory was a huge result. They are massive games, great games to be involved in.

‘Hopefully it will show the strides we have made since we played them a number of months back and for that I have to give immense credit to the team. We have put ourselves in a great position but there is still a lot of work to go and recover now and get ready for the weekend.’

Swansea boss Garry Monk feels Liverpool will make the top four but he insisted his side were unfortunate not to take something from the game.

Rodgers' Liverpool side face the visit of Louis van Gaal's Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday

Monk said: ‘I think especially after the first half, we really controlled it, dominated it, and that’s the opportunity missed really.

‘We should have scored a goal, maybe a couple in the first half. Second half, we started to make the wrong decisions with the ball, and invited a little bit of pressure.

‘But for all that pressure, they didn’t have a lot of chances. Had it been a well-worked goal, you could have taken that a bit better. We definitely deserved something from the game.’

VIDEO Monk rues missed chances