It's going to be quite a week for Liverpool.

Brendan Rodgers’ Reds face Newcastle United in a Premier League game at Anfield tonight, then take on Aston Villa in the FA Cup semi-finals on Sunday.

It’s a chance of a Wembley trip for the supporters, but the game at the national stadium they will really want is against Reading or Arsenal, who meet on Saturday, in the final next month.

I think the FA Cup will always be important to Liverpool and their fans.

But it’s bigger than ever this season because of the way their Champions and Premier League campaigns have gone.

These days, a top-four finish is a huge thing because it provides a Champions League place the season after.

Liverpool have to keep on battling away, making tonight’s Newcastle game crucial.

But recent defeats by Manchester United and Arsenal really dented their hopes of finishing higher than fifth.

As well as being inconsistent in the league, Rodgers’ side suffered a disappointing European exit at the group stage after winning just one of their six games, against Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad.

Then there was that Capital One Cup semi-final loss to old rivals and Rodgers’ former club Chelsea.

Had they been beaten at Blackburn, dark clouds really would have gathered.

But Philippe Coutinho’s goal meant they got the better of a side containing our former players Simon Eastwood and Jordan Rhodes.

Last season’s second-placed finish gave Rodgers a lot to live up to.

After coming so close to the title, only for Manchester City to pip them, he also had to cope with the loss of Luis Suarez to Barcelona.

Signing Mario Balotelli was always going to be a gamble, and it hasn’t paid off.

Like Daniel Sturridge, Adam Lallana’s season has been hit by injury.

And Lallana’s fellow summer signings Dejan Lovren and Lazar Markovic haven’t had the best of starts at the club.

Rodgers has also had to deal with the fall-out from the confirmation of Steven Gerrard’s departure at the end of the season.

It would be fitting if Gerrard’s final act in a Liverpool shirt was to lift the FA Cup.

Chris Powell has revealed how he took the players go-karting as part of his preparations for the Easter games against Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich Town.

It was a way of breaking up a fortnight of training because of the international break.

And given the performances and scorelines in the two games, it had the desired effect.

Having group activities is a great way of improving team spirit.

Neil Warnock was a great one for doing something that bit different.

He loved to get us together the night before a game for a glass of sherry.

The only thing was, he insisted on adding a raw egg.

Neil claimed it was good for us, but I think he just enjoyed seeing our faces as the concoction slipped down!

There was another time when he took us on a night out in Torquay, where he had spent some time earlier in his managerial career and had a mate who ran a pub.

We played darts and had pie and chips and a couple of pints.

It wasn’t textbook pre-match fare, but it certainly helped us relax!

There’s a trip to the seaside for the boys tomorrow.

We go to Brighton for our penultimate away game.

After a couple of seasons in which they have reached the play-offs, they have had a tough time of it.

The appointment of Sami Hyypia as manager in succession to Oscar Garcia didn’t work out.

Now Chris Hughton is the man in the dug-out, and like Chris Powell, he’ll be keen to get his side as high up the table as possible.