Benitez challenges Liverpool to cement pole position

Rafa Benitez believes Liverpool will be on course for a season to remember if they are still top of the Premier League table when European action resumes in two months time.

Having qualified in first place from their Champions League group after a 3-1 victory over PSV Eindhoven in Holland on Tuesday, Benitez's side face Hull at Anfield on Saturday.

With Chelsea not playing until Sunday, Liverpool will open up a four-point gap at the summit should the hosts secure victory in the first league fixture between the two clubs for nearly 49 years.

It is an opportunity Benitez insists his players cannot afford to waste if the club is to win the title for the first time in 19 years.

“We have qualified for the next stage in Europe, we are top of the Premier League, and now we can concentrate on domestic considerations,” said Benitez, who is close to agreeing a new contract extension which will secure his services until 2013.

“We now have almost three months to concentrate on the Premier Lea gue and the FA Cup. We would want to go back into Europe next year still top of the table.

“We do not want to give up top spot. If we are still there when we start up again in Europe, the chances of a really good season will be obvious.”

Liverpool know they must improve in front of their own fans if they are not to suffer the same fate as Arsenal, who surprisingly lost at home to Hull earlier in the season.

The Reds have been held at home by Stoke and Fulham and were booed off after a frustrating goalless draw against West Ham.

Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and Jose Reina are all expected to return to the side after being rested in Eindhoven. Holland striker Dirk Kuyt is also set to play after missing the midweek game with a hamstring problem.

Hull have proved to be the surprise package in the top-tier this term.

Tipped at the start of the season to be relegated after just one season in the Premier League, they start the weekend sixth in the table, three points adrift of a Champions League spot.

But their preparations for the game have been overshadowed by the arrest of striker Marlon King, who scored the winner over Middlesbrough last weekend.

King, who is on loan from Wigan until the end of the season, is alleged to have assaulted a woman in a bar in London.

It remains to be seen whether he will feature at Anfield, but one player certain to receive a warm reception from Liverpool fans is Nick Barmby.

The 34-year-old former England midfielder spent two years with Liverpool after a controversial move from rivals Everton in 2000, and helped the club win a cup treble the following year.

“I loved my time at Liverpool, it's a fantastic club,” Barmby said. “I was fortunate enough to win things there and it is one of the best clubs in the world. But I am more pleased for the fans to be going to places like Anfield.

“The atmosphere is fantastic there and to see their team playing against Liverpool in a league game is fantastic. Long may it continue.”

Barmby, meanwhile, has backed Liverpool's misfiring striker Robbie Keane to come good.

Keane has struggled for goals since his 20 million pounds move from Tottenham and was dropped against Blackburn last weekend before being recalled to face PSV.

“Robbie Keane is class, you don't lose that ability. I'm sure in the second half of the season he'll probably be fantastic for Liverpool and a great acquisition,” he said.