Don´t give up now, Benitez urges Liverpool

Rafael Benitez has challenged his Liverpool players to keep believing that they can pip Manchester United at the wire in the Premier League title race.

The Reds travel to West Ham on Saturday aiming to keep the pressure on United with a victory that will lift them back to the top of the table ahead of their rivals’ derby clash with Manchester City 24 hours later.

United need seven points from their final four games to be sure of the title and few now expect them to falter.

But Benitez is determined his side will not do the champions any favours.

“We must keep winning, keep pushing and see what happens,” the Spaniard said. “Maybe, hopefully, City can do us a favour. But there is nothing we can do about that match, only ours.”

Benitez added: “We have to believe. We have done well, we have been able to win a lot of games right at the end which shows our fitness. We have gained a lot of experience and the spirit has been fantastic among the players.

“We will push right until the end. Even that will be of use to us in the future, but we still must believe we can do something this season, not wait for next.”

Benitez will have Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano back from injury but must do without Xabi Alonso, who has an ankle problem following Joey Barton’s red card challenge in the win over Newcastle last weekend.

And he acknowledged that West Ham will be tough opponents following an upturn in their fortunes under rookie manager Gianfranco Zola.

“West Ham will be difficult,” Benitez added. “Zola is doing a good job, they are confident and playing well. Zola was a fantastic player and now he is showing he can be a fine manager, he is doing a good job there.

“It was a little difficult for him at the start, it always is when a new manager takes over. But he is clever, he knows the league and what to do.

“But we know we have to win. A point is not good enough so the message is very clear to my players, win and increase the pressure ahead of United’s game on Sunday.”

West Ham are in the hunt for a seventh-placed finish that will earn a place in next season’s Europa League and Zola is determined to earn his first win against one of the league’s top four clubs as a manager.

“We played Manchester United at home and Chelsea at home and we went very close and were unlucky. We keep trying as we lost against those teams but we learnt a lot from them and we are confident that Saturday is going to be a different game.

“It is another opportunity for us to beat a top team and also it has got double the value that if we win this game we have a great chance to get into Europe.”