Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has made continued progress his priority for 2015, beginning with Thursday s clash against Leicester City.
After pushing Manchester City all the way in last season s title race, Liverpool have struggled to live up to those standards in the first half of the current campaign.
Nevertheless, Rodgers remains delighted with his team s progress over the past 12 months and has called for more of the same next year.
As a year, it s been another one of progress, he said. The beginning of this season wasn t quite what we wanted it to be, but over the course of 2014 we ve definitely made significant strides forward.
We ve been consistent in that we want to be a team based on high performance and, in the year, only two teams picked up more points than us [Chelsea and Manchester City].
So, despite the start to this season, we ve made good progress overall. I ve been pleased, but we ve still got a lot of work to do.
Liverpool are now unbeaten in three Premier League matches and head into the New Year s Day visit of Leicester to Anfield on the back of a morale-boosting 4-1 win over Swansea City on Monday.
Rodgers knows the race for the top four will now step up a gear, and hopes recent results can provide a good platform moving forward.
We have an exciting period now going into the second half of the season, he continued. There are a lot of good teams trying to get into the top four.
We re building confidence and momentum and really looking forward to the rest of the campaign.
Leicester are currently rooted to the bottom of the league table, despite ending a 13-match winless run at Hull City last time out, but Rodgers is taking nothing for granted.
Every game is different and Leicester will want to make it challenging for us, he added. But we will be ready and we want to continue this little spell we re on and finish this tough Christmas schedule with maximum points.
Leicester boss Nigel Pearson has hinted he could hand a debut to former Manchester United youngster Tom Lawrence after he returned from a loan at Rotherham United, while Andy King (thigh), Kasper Schmeichel (foot) and Paul Konchesky (suspended) are all out.
Rodgers remains without Daniel Sturridge (thigh) and Glen Johnson (groin), but could welcome back Dejan Lovren (groin) after the defender returned to training. Martin Skrtel is suspended after accumulating five yellow cards.
Liverpool won the reverse fixture 3-1 at the King Power Stadium at the beginning of December in a match that saw Pearson earn himself a fine and a touchline ban after becoming involved in a row with a home supporter.
