• Premier League

Liverpool defence can handle Spurs striker Kane - Skrtel

Martin Skrtel says Liverpool do not fear Tottenham's striker Harry Kane, as they prepare to face the in-form striker at Anfield.

Spurs travel to Liverpool on Tuesday as the race to qualify for the Champions League hots up, with Kane on a hot streak of 11 goals in his last 14 games, including four in his last two to take his tally to 22 for the season.

The England Under-21 international has 12 in the Premier League - two more than Liverpool's leading scorers, Steven Gerrard and Raheem Sterling, combined. But the gap between the two sides is just four points.

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Harry Kane scored twice as Spurs beat Arsenal in Saturday's North London derby © Getty Images

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"He is doing well, scoring goals and we have to look after him," Skrtel said of Kane.

"But it is not only him, Tottenham are doing well as a team. They are playing much better than they played before so we have to be ready for them.

"We are just looking at ourselves and to play our game and try to get three points.

"We are happy for our clean sheets because from the beginning of the season there was a lot of criticism of the defending.

"I'm happy we improved that and in recent games we kept a lot of clean sheets.

"I think in this year I think we have only conceded in one game from open play so that is very good. We just need to carry on that way.

"We try to do our job and help the team. I said that many times, defending is not only about the defenders but the defending of the whole team. We have improved that."

That improvement has given Liverpool a platform to make a bid for the top four, which seemed well beyond their means after a poor start to the campaign left them well off the pace.

"We are close and we play Tottenham and then Southampton later on this month - games against the opponents that are also fighting for the top four - so they are going to be crucial," the Slovakia international added.

"But we are not looking forward like that, we are just going from game to game, trying to get as many points as we can and just believing we can finish in the top four."

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