Gerrard made his 300th Premier League appearance on 13 April 2008 in a match against Blackburn Rovers, scoring the opening goal, and finished the season with twenty-one goals in all competitions, surpassing his total from the 2006–07 season. Gerrard was selected for the PFA Team of the Year and he was also one of the nominees or the PFA Player of the Year, alongside teammate Fernando Torres.
Gerrard needed to undergo groin surgery at the beginning of the 2008–09 season, but the problem was not serious and he quickly returned to training. He scored what appeared to be his hundredth career Liverpool goal against Stoke City on 20 September, but it was disallowed after Dirk Kuyt was ruled offside. He achieved the milestone eleven days later in a 3–1 Champions League group stage win over PSV.
He made his 100th appearance in European club competition for Liverpool on 10 March 2009 against Real Madrid and scored twice in a 4–0 win. Four days after the impressive victory over Real, Gerrard would score at Old Trafford for the first time from the penalty spot, putting Liverpool ahead on their way to a 4–1 victory over Manchester United. Following these results, three-time FIFA World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane hailed the Liverpool skipper, saying "Is he the best in the world? He might not get the attention of Messi and Ronaldo but yes, I think he might be." On 22 March 2009, Gerrard scored his first ever hat-trick in the Premier League, against Aston Villa, in a 5–0 victory. On 13 May 2009, Gerrard was named as the 2009 Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year, becoming the first Liverpool player to win the award in nineteen years. Gerrard had pipped Manchester United duo Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney in the poll voted for by journalists, beating Ryan Giggs by just 10 votes. Upon receiving the award, he was quoted as saying "I'm delighted but I'm a little bit surprised," he commented. "When you look at the quality of the players there are in this league, it's a great privilege to win this kind of award." He ended the 2009–10 season with a total of 12 goals and 9 assists from 46 matches.
Following the 2009–10 season, Rafael Benitez departed Liverpool after six years and was succeeded as manager by Roy Hodgson, who quickly assured fans that Gerrard would not be sold. To further eliminate any speculation surrounding his future at the club, Gerrard made a statement emphasising his excitement at the coming season with Liverpool and praising the signing of Joe Cole. Gerrard soon played his first pre-season match of the 2010–11 season against Borussia Mönchengladbach on 1 August 2010 alongside new signing Joe Cole.
Gerrard scored his first goal of the 2010–11 season from the penalty spot in a Europa League qualifier against Macedonian side FK Rabotnicki on the 5th August 2010.
His next two goals came on 19 September at Old Trafford in a 3–2 loss against Manchester United; he scored from a penalty kick in the 64th minute and a free-kick 6 minutes later to level the game at 2–2. He followed this up with the equaliser in a 2–2 home draw with Sunderland. 11 days later Gerrard came off the bench to score a second-half hat-trick in a 3–1 win over Napoli in the Europa League.[53]
Gerrard missed the start of English Premier League season 2011-2012 due to groin injury which had kept him away for much of the 2010-2011 season as well. [54] Gerrard made his first start for Liverpool squad in the October match at Anfield against fierce rivals Manchester United. Gerrard scored the club's only goal in the match, from a free kick, which ended in a 1-1 draw. On October 29, Gerrard underwent a treatment to clear an infection in his right ankle, which was placed in a protective plaster cast. He was forced to miss Liverpool's league match against West Bromwich that day and was ruled out for at least the following week's match against Swansea the following week and England's friendly matches against Sweden and Spain the week after. After a prolonged ankle injury recuperation, Gerrard returned to first team action in the match against Blackburn Rovers, coming off the bench. On 30th December, Gerrard came off the bench against Newcastle United and scored a fine goal.
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