Jordan Henderson feels criticism of Steven Gerrard this season is totally unjustified.

The Reds captain’s perceived waning influence has been highlighted as a factor in Liverpool’s shaky start to the campaign.

But Brendan Rodgers’ side were much more dynamic in Saturday’s Merseyside derby and Gerrard’s free-kick in the 65th minute appeared to have sealed victory before Phil Jagielka struck a stunning late equaliser to earn a 1-1 draw.

Gerrard has now scored nine goals in Premier League Merseyside derbies, more than any other player.

Henderson said: “Stevie’s still one of the best players in the Premier League.

“There’s no doubting his quality. A lot of teams have been using someone to man-mark him, which shows just how good he is. I don’t think he deserves any criticism. He’s been the best player this league’s probably seen in a long time and still is.”

Liverpool had 24 shots compared to Everton’s 11 and Tim Howard, who got a hand to Gerrard’s freekick but could not keep it out, was certainly the busier goalkeeper.

Henderson said: “It’s disappointing. The performance was very good, back to the level we expect.

“The intensity was good all over the pitch, we worked hard, we were more fluent going forward and we made chances as well. And also we defended really well throughout the game so that was pleasing.

“We did quite a lot of work during the week on defending and I think we showed just how well we can defend, so that needs to be the case from now on.”

Rodgers had hoped for a similar spark to last season, when a 4-0 victory over Everton at Anfield began a run of 37 points from a possible 39.

Instead, their bubble was well and truly burst by Jagielka’s wonder strike but Henderson is confident there will be no hangover with a busy fixture list ahead, starting with a Champions League trip to Basel on Wednesday.

“I don’t think it’ll affect us,” he said. “If we keep putting in performances like that we’ll win more than we don’t.”