Gerrard: Everton draw summed up the season

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard admitted that his side's struggles to win against teams above them has cost them dearly following a goalless draw against Everton.

The Reds were hopeful of beating local rivals Everton at Anfield on Sunday as it would allow them to try and close the five-point gap between the two sides.

However, they were unable to do so in the Merseyside derby despite Gerrard's best attempts to come up with a decisive goal on the night.

The goalless draw maintained the gap and it means that Everton, who are currently in sixth, are on track to finish ahead of their city rivals for the second successive season for the first time since 1937.

Gerrard believes that the manner of the draw perfectly encapsulated the state of Liverpool's first season under Brendan Rodgers. The stalemate means that Liverpool have only one win against a team in the top eight - a 3-2 home victory over Tottenham in March - over the 2012/13 Barclays Premier League season.

"I think that sums our season up in a way, where we've played well but haven't got the results against the sides above us," he told Sky Sports.

"I think Everton have improved a lot. They are a good team, difficult to beat, so we'll take a point - but we're disappointed it wasn't more."

The match was also Jamie Carragher's 30th and final Merseyside derby as the veteran is set to retire from the game and become a pundit for Sky Sports later in the month.

"We all wanted [a goal] at the end, mainly for this fella [Jamie Carragher] playing in his last derby."

Carragher, though, believed a share of the spoils was only fair as Everton battled it out to preserve a clean sheet. The Toffees could even have come away with a win on the night as Sylvain Distin saw a header into the net be disallowed early in the second half due to a foul on a Liverpool player.

He said: "It's a fair result. It wasn't to be and a draw was a fair result. There weren't too many chances at either end. It was a tense derby if you like and credit to Everton.

"Coming to Anfield and getting a draw is a good result. I'm slightly disappointed but a fair result in the end I think. It was a good day.

"I've got a few games left with Liverpool. It was a big-game derby and I would have liked to have won it but ultimately we didn't lose."

Liverpool now play Fulham and QPR in their final two games while Everton face West Ham and Chelsea in their forthcoming fixtures.