Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has said that his team proved that they are capable of challenging at the top of the Premier League despite falling to a 2-1 defeat at Manchester City.

Philippe Coutinho gave the Reds the lead at the Etihad Stadium, but goals from Vincent Kompany and Alvaro Negredo saw the hosts come back to claim all three points.

"I was very proud of the players, I thought they were absolutely outstanding," the Northern Irishman, who was critical of the officiating, told the club's official website. "They really took the game to a team that is a top, top side full of top European players.

"I think people will go away and look at us as a team that's hopefully going to be up there challenging. Our main objective is to set up camp in the top four. That's what this club has been striving for, for a number of years, but we've shown consistently over this year that we're hopefully going to be in with a right good chance of doing that.

"I think performances like tonight show that we have the quality to do that. We didn't get the points, but we'll recover well now and get onto the next game. We've lost the game, but we take a great deal of encouragement from it."

The Merseyside outfit are now three points off the top.