• Indian billionaires seeking 51% stake in Anfield club
• Ambani owns IPL cricket team the Mumbai Indians

Two Indian business tycoons were reported last night to be lining up attempts to take control of Liverpool. Mukesh Ambani and Subrata Roy were said to be willing to pay off the club’s £237m debt in return for a 51% stake in the club.

Ambani is India’s wealthiest person with a fortune valued at about $20bn. He is the chairman of India’s Reliance Industries and owns the Mumbai Indians cricket team. Roy, chairman of the Sahara Group, which sponsors the India cricket team, is also a billionaire.

Liverpool’s co-owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, have been searching for fresh investment for some time but they are not thought to want to sell more than 50% of the club’s shares.

They have been seeking investment of £100m for a minority stake in the club. The Americans have been ordered by the Royal Bank of Scotland to reduce Anfield’s debt by £100m before July.

The Times, which reported the interest from the two Indian businessmen, said that Roy’s interest appeared to be the more serious. It reported that Liverpool’s chief executive, Christian Purslow, had denied knowledge of a bid but the paper said the pair had made approaches in November and that discussions had been held.

There is also said to be interest from the United States and from a Saudi Arabian consortium.

Hicks and Gillett are under pressure from supporters to sell. They took over in February 2007 but have not so far delivered on a project designed to deliver a new stadium and have provided the manager, Rafael Benítez, with little in the way of transfer funds for this season. Maxi Rodríguez was the only January signing.

LiverpoolPremier LeagueJon Brodkinguardian.co.uk

• Captain wants team-mates to build on victory over Everton
• Travel to third-place Arsenal on Wednesday

Steven Gerrard has warned his Liverpool team-mates they cannot afford any more mistakes if they are to secure Champions League football next season.

After seven defeats – five more than in the whole of the previous Premier League campaign – the Merseyside club’s hopes of a top-four place appeared to be slipping away even seven weeks ago.

However, since losing at Portsmouth on 19 December, Liverpool have put together a seven-match run of five wins and two draws to move back up to fourth. On Wednesday they go to Arsenal, where they have not won in the league for a decade. Victory would put Liverpool two points behind the third-placed Gunners with a trip to Manchester City next.

But having come unstuck at Tottenham, Sunderland, Fulham and Fratton Park this season, Gerrard has stressed the importance of his side building on last weekend’s victory over Everton in the 213th Merseyside derby.

“Everybody is still on a high and now we have got to take that high into the next game,” he told the Liverpool Echo. “It’s a tough one, Arsenal away always is, but we have used beating Everton as a platform in the past and we’ve got to do it again. We want to extend our run and go on to better things as we can’t afford any slip-ups because there is pressure from Tottenham, Manchester City and Aston Villa.”

Gerrard added: “We showed fantastic togetherness [against Everton], we fought for each other and that’s why I am really proud of this team. It’s performances like this that will get you in there [the top four]. There are a couple of very tough games coming up but if we can show what we have done in the last seven games, I don’t see why we can’t maintain it.”

Liverpool have kept six clean sheets on their current run but go to the Emirates without the in-form Sotirios Kyrgiakos as he begins a three-match ban for his sending-off against Everton. Fortunately for Rafael Benítez, Daniel Agger made a timely return at the weekend after a month out injured.

“It is bad when you lose players but we had more problems with the centre-backs at the start of the season and now we have more bodies,” said the Liverpool manager. “So although we will lose something, maybe we can manage in a different way. Agger, Martin Skrtel, Jamie Carragher can all play, so at least we have the bodies.”

Agger has had a frustrating time over the past two years as a foot problem saw him miss the last eight months of the 2007‑08 season while a back injury restricted appearances in the last campaign and he underwent surgery in the summer.

After his latest spell in the treatment room for a groin injury, the Denmark international’s return has eased any worries Benítez may have had about who to play at centre-back, with Carragher currently operating on the right because of Glen Johnson’s lengthy lay-off with a knee problem.

And after several months of frustration, the 25-year-old is looking forward to playing regularly again. “It has been annoying. I’ve done my best trying to play but it has been really difficult,” said Agger. “If you have something you can’t play with even if you try you know you are not 100%. It is so frustrating but you have to accept it is part of the game, even though my injuries have not been that many, just big.”

LiverpoolSteven GerrardRafael BenítezPremier Leagueguardian.co.uk