Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott accepts he will have to continue to push himself “to the max” as injuries threaten to derail the club’s bid for an unprecedented quadruple.
The 20-year-old played the full 120 minutes of Sunday’s Carabao Cup extra-time win over Chelsea just four days after playing the entirety of the 4-1 victory against Luton, in which he scored a 90th-minute goal and had to be hauled off the turf at the end of the game.
His previous four appearances had all been as a substitute and amounted to just 153 minutes, but with 12 first team players unavailable through injury, fringe and academy players are now finding they are having to play more significant roles.
That is likely to be the case against Sky Bet Championship high-fliers Southampton in the fifth round of the FA Cup at Anfield on Wednesday – the third of four games in 15 days.
“Digging in deep – it came off the back of 90 minutes in midweek – is what you live for. This is why you’re a footballer,” said Elliott, who collapsed to the ground in exhaustion as the rest of the team ran to celebrate Virgil van Dijk’s 118th-minute goal at Wembley.
“You need to push yourself to the max in order to get results and we did that.
“To come away with a victory is massive but we need to put it behind us, make sure we are recovered and focused on Wednesday.
“It will be another big test against Southampton as they are doing well this season and are going to cause us problems.
“I can’t wait for another game.”
Wednesday looks like a significant hurdle for Liverpool – top of the Premier League by a point and facing Sparta Prague in the Europa League – to overcome in their quest to win four trophies taking into account their injury situation and the emotional toil of the cup final just a few days ago.
Elliott insists it is up to the players to battle their way through if of they want to keep the bid on track.
“It’s going to be hard. It is just down to us. We need to put in the fight, desire and hunger and who knows at the end of the season,” he added.
