EXCLUSIVE
Danny Ward is an interested observer of goings on at Liverpool this season, and the on-loan goalkeeper is backing his team-mates at Anfield to start collecting much-needed clean sheets.
The Wales international is currently away from Merseyside taking in a spell at Championship promotion hopefuls Huddersfield Town.
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He is, however, keeping a close eye on events back at his parent club, with Liverpool chasing down a top-four finish in the Premier League.
A title push could still be on the cards if form is recaptured under Jurgen Klopp, but there is a 13-point gap to bridge on leaders Chelsea.
If Liverpool are to fire themselves back into contention then they need to tighten up at the back, something Ward remains convinced that Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius can achieve despite the regular questioning of their value to the Reds cause by those on the outside looking in.
He told Goal: "It's been interesting seeing what's happened in the situation from afar and not being amongst it every day.
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“Simon doesn't get the credit that he deserves sometimes because he is a top goalkeeper. To play the amount of games he has for Liverpool is no mean feat.
“Loris is only the same age as me and he is adapting to the Premier League.
“The clean sheets are starting to come for him and if you keep clean sheets as a club then you have got more chance of winning games, which ultimately the club need to do if they are to win the first league title in 27 years."
Ward is having to bide his time as he seeks a regular role at Liverpool, but he believes he has ideal mentors at Anfield, with Belgium international Mignolet considered to be “a real role model”.
The 23-year-old shot-stopper added: "Simon is really driven, you can have three games in a week and Simon will be thinking: 'I need to make sure that I'm eating right, make sure that I'm in the gym and that I get all my sessions done, I will squeeze them in somehow’.
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“He always seems to get a piece of everything no matter how hectic the schedule is.
“That's something that I will personally aim to try and take from Simon, he is an example for young goalkeepers, he is a real role model."