Steven Gerrard is greatest ever Liverpool player says Jamie Carragher

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Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher believes captain Steven Gerrard is the best player in the club's history and the most influential of the Premier League era.

Gerrard came off the bench with his team trailing 1-0 to Napoli in the Europa League at half-time last night and produced a 45-minute performance which was head and shoulders above anything else on display.

The 30-year-old turned the game around, scoring a hat-trick in the final 15 minutes to put Liverpool on the verge of qualification for the knockout stages.

"Stevie is just an unbelievable talent, we all know that," said Carragher.

"We have seen him do things like he did last night time and again during his career.

"But he keeps on producing when it matters and, to me, that makes him the best player the club has ever had and the most influential player ever in the Premier League.

"You could see the crowd responded to him when he came on in the second half and he lifted everybody's performance."

After the game manager Roy Hodgson said he and the club owed a debt of gratitude to the England midfielder, whose one-man show helped keep alive Liverpool's mini-revival of three wins and a draw in their last four matches.

"He was outstanding and we were able to get out of a tight spot," Carragher told the Liverpool Echo.

"Thankfully we were able to get the win and now we have got to make sure we can keep this run going for as long as possible."