Benitez vows Liverpool will cope with title pressure

Rafael Benitez insists his Liverpool team can stay at the summit of the Premier League despite their stuttering form and bring the English title back to Anfield for the first time since 1990.

Liverpool's 3-1 victory away to Blackburn Rovers was harsh on the hosts, and even though they remain top of the table, the Reds look far from convincing.

Having been held to goalless draws against Fulham and West Ham in their previous two outings, Liverpool had to wait until the 69th minute to break the deadlock through Xabi Alonso at Ewood Park.

Even though they have hardly hit top form, Benitez believes Liverpool, currently a point ahead of second-placed Chelsea, have what it takes to stay one step ahead of the chasing pack.

“We have to play with confidence because we're in a very good position,” said Liverpool's manager.

“If we can move and pass the ball like we did against Blackburn and be more clinical in front of goal, that will be really important through Christmas time.

“We saw again that we can manage the pressure and play well if it's necessary. Sometimes in some games when a team is working so hard you know that sometimes you will have problems but we had the control and created some chances and were more clinical.”

With Fernando Torres likely to be out for another three weeks, Benitez, who claimed he is not looking to recruit a striker in January, left Robbie Keane on the bench and used Dirk Kuyt as a lone forward.

Even when Ryan Babel went off with a knock, Benitez decided to bring on Nabil El Zhar rather than Keane, a 20.3 million pounds signing from Tottenham in July.

Kuyt never really looked like scoring but with Alonso, Yossi Benayoun and Steven Gerrard all on target, Benitez maintains he is not bothered who scores Liverpool's goals.

“You like to see the strikers scoring goals but if the midfielders are scoring goals then I'm pleased and it doesn't matter to me.”

Morten Gamst Pedersen had a long-range strike pushed on to the bar by Pepe Reina in the opening period as Blackburn put on a defiant display.

But Alonso gave Liverpool the lead after Kuyt mis-hit a shot from Gerrard's cross and, 10 minutes afterwards, Benayoun skipped past Stephen Warnock and beat Rovers goalkeeper Paul Robinson to double the lead.

Roque Santa Cruz halved the deficit with a header with five minutes remaining but Gerrard made the game safe by clipping the ball into an empty net in added time.

Second-from-bottom Blackburn have now gone 10 games without a win in the Premier League but under-pressure manager Paul Ince is confident his side will pull away from trouble.

They now face a vital period of matches against Wigan, Stoke, Sunderland, Manchester City and Fulham and Ince believes that repeats of the performance against Liverpool will be enough to pull them to safety.

“We've got to believe that we can get up into mid-table but it's just getting that win,” said the former Reds and England midfielder.

“It was going to be hard against Liverpool because they're going for the Premiership but we matched them for 70 minutes.

“We've got five cup finals coming up and if we play like that we've got to believe that it will turn around.

“I was very encouraged. It's been a bit of a low over the last five or six games and it's been hard for everyone at the club but we put in an exceptional performance against Liverpool.”