Injuries to striker Fernando Torres (knee) and captain Steven Gerrard (hamstring) have deprived the side of their best two players for six and two weeks respectively.

In truth the pair have been struggling all season and Liverpool's stuttering campaign has been largely attributed to their under-performance and unavailability.

Torres and Gerrard have not featured in the last two matches - a morale-sapping last-minute 1-1 draw at Stoke and last night's 2-0 victory over fellow top-four contenders Tottenham.

Injuries also meant Yossi Benayoun, Glen Johnson, Fabio Aurelio and Daniel Agger were all missing last night.

In their absence there has been a noticeable rise in commitment from the rest of the squad and Lucas thinks that will be crucial to their hopes for the future.

"Now it is time for other players to show we have quality," said the Brazil midfielder.

"We have heard a lot that Liverpool are a two-player team and of course we will miss Stevie, Fernando, Yossi and Glen because they are brilliant players.

"But we cannot have them so we have to play with our squad - and yesterday we worked really hard."

Lucas has been vilified in some sections for lacking the necessary quality to play alongside the likes of Torres and Gerrard but has played in all but one of Liverpool's league matches this season.

Having made his 100th appearance against Spurs the 23-year-old is starting to finally grow into the player manager Rafael Benitez thought he would when he bought him from Gremio in July 2007.

And Lucas is keen to prove his detractors wrong by continuing to fight for his place despite £20million summer signing Alberto Aquilani's gradual progress towards full match fitness.

He added: "It is normal when you don't get results that you get criticism. The Reading defeat (last week) was a catastrophe because we wanted to stay in the FA Cup.

"To be honest I cannot stop it. I have to keep going. If I listened to the criticism I wouldn't play here anymore.

"I just have to keep going and work really hard. The critics will be less if we keep doing well.

"Our record in the last four games is 10 points so that is positive.

"We know this season has been not so good but we have to keep this momentum and attitude.

"February will be a massive month for us so hopefully we will keep the same attitude.

"We will be there for sure, fighting for the top four."