Rio Ferdinand has claimed Liverpool are "now behind" Manchester United and dismissed any excuses to explain the Reds' disappointing Premier League season.
Liverpool finished third in the table, five points behind Europa League finalists United who were were a distant 12 points adrift of champions Manchester City.
While Jurgen Klopp's side were hampered by a seemingly endless succession of injuries to key players, United were largely untroubled by major absences as they posted the lowest points total for a second-placed Premier League team in five years.
Liverpool ended the season with a 10-game unbeaten run that secured Champions League qualification and included an emphatic 4-2 win at Old Trafford last month.
But Ferdinand is adamant Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has now guided United into a position where they are once again the dominant force between the two bitter North West rivals.
"I think in the league we’ve got what we wanted, which was an improvement," he said, speaking to Goal.
"I think Man United at the end of last season finished 30-odd points behind Liverpool. Liverpool are now behind us and they’ll have their excuses and reasons why but the cold facts are that we have gained that much ground on them that we’ve gone past them this season.
"That shows vast improvement and we’re second in the league.
"By no means are we the finished article but I think at the beginning of the season if you’d said you’d finish second in the league from where we were I think they’d have snapped your hand off."
