Andy Carroll believes his double act with Luis Suarez is starting to click as he hailed his Liverpool strike partner as the best in the Premier League.
The Reds’ record signing is targeting an extended run in Kenny Dalglish’s side after netting his third goal of the season in Saturday’s 2-0 victory at West Brom.
Carroll impressed on his first league start for nearly a month but admitted he owed a debt of gratitude to Suarez, who produced another man of the match display alongside him.
“Luis is a great player who works so hard for the team and it’s nice to have him up top with me,” Carroll said.
“Luis drops off, gets the ball into his feet, can dribble with it and slip people in. We just try to stretch defenders and try to make the pitch as big as possible.
“I thought it was a good move for my goal. Luis put me in and I had time to take a touch and slip it past the keeper. It was great to score again – there’s no better feeling really.
“Luis makes it easy playing alongside him. I think we played well together and hopefully that will carry on.
“I couldn’t name a better player in the Premier League than Luis. He’s fantastic to have in the squad. He makes chances and scores goals himself so he’s a great all-round player and he showed that again.”
After scoring in the derby victory at Goodison at the start of October, Carroll found himself on the bench for the league games against Manchester United and Norwich City.
However, the £35million man was recalled by Dalglish for last week’s Carling Cup win at Stoke City and retained his place against the Baggies.
Carroll is desperate to become a permanent fixture in the Liverpool side.
“I’ve been disappointed to be sat on the bench,” he said. “But when you are left out it just makes you work harder the next day in training to get your place back.
“We have a big squad, players come and go every week. It was a different XI at West Brom compared to the previous week and the week before that. Everyone is fighting hard in training for a place.
“I’ve been working hard every day to get my fitness up and to try to get a place in the team and I think I earned it.
“I thought I played well against Stoke and again on Saturday – to get a goal made it even better. We will have to see what happens next weekend. I want to get my name in the starting XI every week.”
Liverpool slipped back to sixth place following Spurs’ win over QPR yesterday but they are only one point adrift of third-placed Chelsea.
The Reds have now gone seven games unbeaten in all competitions and Carroll believes the fact Saturday’s win was achieved without either Steven Gerrard or Jamie Carragher highlighted the depth in Dalglish’s squad.
“It was a good game to be involved and I thought all the lads played well,” Carroll said.
“We showed what we can do. We passed it around well and deserved the three points.
“It was tough not having Stevie or Carra in the squad. They are great players and we need them in the team once they’ve got over their little niggles.
“But we have fantastic players that can come in. The game showed we’ve got lads who can step in when needed and do a job.”
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