THOSE critics who believe Steven Gerrard has been in decline this season will have nodded sagely at the evidence.

There was the Liverpool skipper, statuesque in the middle of the Anfield turf and giving no impression of reproducing the lung-busting efforts and devastating thrusts that have been such a feature of his glittering career.

In fact, on closer inspection, Gerrard wasn’t even moving at all. And then the 29-year-old sauntered on to the field and all was explained.

Of course, the scene yesterday was the Liverpool captain coming face-to-face for the first time with a waxwork of himself to be displayed at Madame Tussauds Museum in London.

By his own admission, Gerrard has at times been a pale imitation of his spectacular best during a disappointing campaign for Rafael Benitez’s side.

But even in defeat at Arsenal on Wednesday, the signs were there once again that the fire is once again burning bright inside the England international after a campaign hampered by niggling injuries.

“I felt good about my performance, but I’d much rather we had got the victory,” says Gerrard.

“My fitness is very good now. I’ve trained well since I came back from the last injury. I was really happy with my performance against Bolton, and I felt good against Arsenal.

“I can’t take too much from that, though, because we didn’t win. But there is nothing we can do about this Arsenal result now.”

Liverpool’s seven-game unbeaten run came to a shuddering halt at the Emirates with Abou Diaby’s 72nd-minute header, with Gerrard berating the decision of Howard Webb not to award the visitors an injury-time penalty when his free-kick struck the flailing arm of Cesc Fabregas.

Benitez’s men remain in fourth place but have been joined on 44 points by Manchester City, with Tottenham Hotspur 43 points and Aston Villa a further point adrift.

City, though, have two games in hand, and with Liverpool’s next Premier League game coming at Eastlands on Sunday week, it is a game they dare not lose.

And Gerrard is upbeat. “We will reflect and be disappointed but we have got a very big league game up next at Manchester City, and if we play like we did against Arsenal then I fancy us to beat them,” he says.