Dalglish not shocked at stellar defence

Kenny Dalglish says it is ‘no surprise’ that Liverpool have the best defensive record in the Premier League.

The Merseyside outfit kept their sixth clean sheet of the season in the 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Sunday and have conceded just 13 goals in 16 games.

Liverpool sit three points adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea and Dalglish has praised his defence for putting in consistent displays.

“It’s no surprise. You’ve got the best goalkeeper in the Premier League (Pepe Reina), England’s right-back (Glen Johnson), two international centre-backs (Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel) and probably the best uncapped left-back (Jose Enrique),” Dalglish said.

“And they get a lot of help from the boys in front of them. The more we have the ball the less pressure they are under and we have a lot of the ball in a lot of games.”

Agger and Skrtel have formed a formidable partnership and have forced the club’s vice-captain Jamie Carragher to the bench since returning from injury.

Dalglish added: “Since he (Carragher) has been injured the two lads have played fantastically well. I think that’s a guideline to how well the lads have played, the fact that Carra has not played the last three or four games.”

Liverpool take on Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium on Wednesday.