Gerrard makes winning prizes his main goal

Steven Gerrard says he is not interested in competing with Cesc Fabregas and Frank Lampard to become the Premier League's highest-scoring midfielder.

The Liverpool captain has scored eight in his last nine games and nine in total to be level with his rivals in the scoring stakes but he would rather his side finish above Arsenal and Chelsea. Gerrard said: "You don't compare yourself to other people. What I do compare is Liverpool to Arsenal and Liverpool to Chelsea.

"If Fabregas and Lampard score more goals than me but we finish higher than them in the table I certainly will not be complaining. Goals are important but not as important as points."

If Gerrard continues scoring at his current rate he could break his personal best of 23 goals in a season. The 27-year-old said: "But I want to score as many goals as I can. I set myself a target before the start of each season, which I keep to myself. But things are going along nice and smoothly at the moment."

Three of Gerrard's tally this season have come from expertly-taken penalties, but the Anfield captain admits he is still not certain of regular spot-kick duty.

He said: "The manager says before the game who takes the penalties. He swaps and changes, I don't know how he decides at all. I think I am scoring a few because Xabi Alonso is injured. I am trying to get as many as I can before he gets back."

Gerrard's latest goal came in last weekend's 4-0 win against Bolton, a game in which he also claimed two assists. Crosses and through balls might not be as memorable as goals but Gerrard insists they give him just as much enjoyment. He said: "I get as much pleasure out of assists, I always have done. It is nice to score a goal but setting people up for them to score gives me a real buzz. That is part of my job from midfield."

Meanwhile, Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry has dismissed claims that Fabio Capello has been approached about becoming manager as "absolutely, completely and utterly untrue".

It had been claimed that the Italian had been contacted both before and after last week's Champions League win over Porto.

But Parry has denied any approach. "Capello has not contacted us and we have not contacted him," he said.

Uefa has also revealed that it is not investigating Liverpool's 8-0 victory over Besiktas in the Champions League for alleged suspicious betting patterns.

The German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung has claimed there were unusually high levels of betting on a high-score victory before the game.

However, Uefa says only one match, the Intertoto Cup game between Makedonija and Cherno More in July, is being investigated by it. Uefa spokesman, William Gaillard, said: "None of the matches on the list are high-profile. They are all in the preliminary rounds of our competitions."