JAMIE CARRAGHER has revealed how a determination to prove the critics wrong will be a major motivation for both himself and Liverpool this season.

Carragher produced a man-of-the-match performance to help the Anfield outfit earn a 1-1 draw at home to Arsenal on Sunday, despite Liverpool playing the second half with 10 men following the dismissal of Joe Cole.

It was an encouraging start to Roy Hodgson’s Premier League tenure, with only Pepe Reina’s unfortunate last-minute own goal preventing David Ngog’s 46th-minute strike proving decisive.

Having finished a lowly seventh last season, many pundits anticipate a season of struggle for Hodgson’s men with Champions League qualification only an outside possibility.

Carragher, though, is relishing the opportunity of surpassing the expectations of those who doubt Liverpool’s domestic credentials this campaign.

“Ever since I’ve been here, we’ve never been thought of as the best team in the country,” said the defender. “We have always had question marks against us. Over the last decade or so, we’ve quite enjoyed that chance to prove people wrong.

“You look at Arsenal, who challenged for the title last year, United, Chelsea, and the City situation, so I can understand why people say they don’t fancy us to get in the top four, but we have to believe we can.

“I look at last season, how poor it was, but with two or three games to go we were still fighting for fourth. I expect an improvement on last season and that’ll get us into it.”