Steven Gerrard says he is disappointed by questions over his integrity as he prepares to take Aston Villa to Manchester City on Sunday for a pivotal game in the Premier League title race.
While Gerrard's Villa are aiming to finish their season on a high with victory at the current champions, the ex-Liverpool's captain's former side host Wolves and are looking to be crowned themselves for a 20th time.
Victory for Jurgen Klopp's men at Anfield will see them win the title if City don't beat their visitors and Gerrard's team selection was the subject of interest on Thursday night when he left out Philippe Coutinho and Danny Ings at home to Burnley in a 1-1 draw.
FULL RECAP: Every word Jurgen Klopp said in Liverpool press conference
LATEST: Klopp makes Salah admission and gives Liverpool injury update
The iconic former Liverpool captain dismissed those theories though, saying he is aiming for maximum points at the Etihad for Villa and not his former employers.
Gerrard said: "We’ve got three massive points to play for, we’ve got an opportunity to finish the season on a high. It would be nice if we can reward our supporters with something at the weekend.
"In terms of Liverpool, I totally understand and respect the external noise and the questions that have been coming my way for some time. They’re involved in a title race, and I spent a lot of time there.
"It is disappointing when people mention integrity and aim it towards me or Aston Villa or any of my players. We’ll go out at the weekend and give it everything we’ve got to try and get points for Aston Villa and our supporters. If that inevitably helps Liverpool, fantastic. But my priority is to try and get points for Aston Villa."
Villa are aiming to become just the third team in 2022 to take points away from the Etihad after Tottenham's victory and Liverpool's draw in February and April, respectively, but Gerrard is under no illusions about the scale of the task against a team who are looking for their third title in four seasons.
"No, I don’t think anyone finds it easy, they’re at the top of the league for a reason," the Villa manager added. "They’re at the latter stages of the Champions League for a reason. They are there consistently.
"They’ve got world-class players and a top manager, but there is a lot of pressure on them at the weekend. We will go there as best prepared as we can and try to make it as difficult as we can. Why? Because we want to be in a better place than 14th and we need some more points.
"I think against a lot of the top teams; Tottenham here for the first half. We really peppered their goal and they needed a man-of-the-match performance to stop us from scoring numerous goals.
"Liverpool home and away, it took a penalty for them to beat us away from home at Anfield. Tyrone was obviously unlucky and Salah won that penalty, in my opinion. We took City to the death with pressure and could have nicked a point there.
"When I played there was a lot of talk about the top four and, for a period, that became a top six. But I think it has become quite clear that in the last two or three years that with Jurgen and Pep’s consistency since Jose [Mourinho] left – he finished second at Manchester United just before he left – they have been the strongest teams for a long time now and there is a gap forming.
"In terms of my experience being back in the Premier League, they have been the two best sides by far that we have faced. Very different, one tries to hurt you with positional play and possession and one tries to hurt you with speed and intensity.
"They are both extremely consistent and have got top managers. They have both recruited extremely well over a period of time and had a lot of time to work with the team so it is no surprise that they get the results that they do."
