Rafa Benitez is keeping his fingers crossed Man City can throw the title race wide open on Sunday after Liverpool maintained their charge with a 3-0 win at Upton Park.
Steven Gerrard fired twice in the first half against West Ham, with Ryan Babel adding a third late on to elevate Liverpool to the top of the Barclays Premier League on goal difference.
United now play the first of two games in hand against City - and Benitez believes victory for Mark Hughes' men would crank up the pressure on the champions.
"We have done our job," said the Spaniard. "We have to keep winning, that's all we can do. We needed to get three points and put them under pressure, and now we will be supporting Man City.
"It's a derby and if they make a mistake they will be feeling the pressure. Man City is a difficult team to play against."
Asked if he would be watching the game in a blue scarf, Benitez joked: "Maybe. If I am at home and relaxed, I will watch it. I will be relaxed because you can't have any influence."
With time running out on Liverpool's title dream, Benitez was asked if he looked back with regret on any of the seven Anfield draws this term, notably the stalemate with West Ham before Christmas.
The boss believes this fixture was pivotal, explaining: "We can talk about some draws but especially this one. We were preparing this game and we watched clips of all the missed chances - there were a lot. It is a pity because this could have made the difference.
"Also, it's true that we've won a lot of games at the end of matches, so in the end, when you talk about nine months, you often finish where you should finish."
As things stand, Liverpool could miss out on the title having lost fewer games than the champions.
Benitez added: "I don't remember (if this has happened before), but we are doing a good job. I was talking to some people the other day and if you analyse the two games we lost - against Middlesbrough for the first 30 minutes we were on top, and against Tottenham it was one of our best away performances of the season. It's unbelievable, but that's football."
Reporters also asked the gaffer if he believed Liverpool would be champions had Gerrard and Fernando Torres started more than 12 league games together.
"We have scored a lot of goals through different players," he replied. "That's a massive positive. But if you have Torres and Gerrard on the pitch, it's a massive difference. The other team is always thinking, 'Who will score - Gerrard or Torres?' It's more difficult for them.
"But I have belief still this season."
Liverpool looked comfortable at Upton Park following Gerrard's second-minute opener but Benitez claims it wasn't as easy as it appeared.
"We were in a very good position because we scored the early goal," he said. "It made a big difference. They had to go forward and so we had more space. The penalty made it worse for them but still they played well, passed the ball and played with ability between the lines. We had to score the third goal.
"We had a lot of chances on the counter attack. We talked about it before and practised in the week, so that's good."
United now play the first of two games in hand against City - and Benitez believes victory for Mark Hughes' men would crank up the pressure on the champions.
"We have done our job," said the Spaniard. "We have to keep winning, that's all we can do. We needed to get three points and put them under pressure, and now we will be supporting Man City.
"It's a derby and if they make a mistake they will be feeling the pressure. Man City is a difficult team to play against."
Asked if he would be watching the game in a blue scarf, Benitez joked: "Maybe. If I am at home and relaxed, I will watch it. I will be relaxed because you can't have any influence."
With time running out on Liverpool's title dream, Benitez was asked if he looked back with regret on any of the seven Anfield draws this term, notably the stalemate with West Ham before Christmas.
The boss believes this fixture was pivotal, explaining: "We can talk about some draws but especially this one. We were preparing this game and we watched clips of all the missed chances - there were a lot. It is a pity because this could have made the difference.
"Also, it's true that we've won a lot of games at the end of matches, so in the end, when you talk about nine months, you often finish where you should finish."
As things stand, Liverpool could miss out on the title having lost fewer games than the champions.
Benitez added: "I don't remember (if this has happened before), but we are doing a good job. I was talking to some people the other day and if you analyse the two games we lost - against Middlesbrough for the first 30 minutes we were on top, and against Tottenham it was one of our best away performances of the season. It's unbelievable, but that's football."
Reporters also asked the gaffer if he believed Liverpool would be champions had Gerrard and Fernando Torres started more than 12 league games together.
"We have scored a lot of goals through different players," he replied. "That's a massive positive. But if you have Torres and Gerrard on the pitch, it's a massive difference. The other team is always thinking, 'Who will score - Gerrard or Torres?' It's more difficult for them.
"But I have belief still this season."
Liverpool looked comfortable at Upton Park following Gerrard's second-minute opener but Benitez claims it wasn't as easy as it appeared.
"We were in a very good position because we scored the early goal," he said. "It made a big difference. They had to go forward and so we had more space. The penalty made it worse for them but still they played well, passed the ball and played with ability between the lines. We had to score the third goal.
"We had a lot of chances on the counter attack. We talked about it before and practised in the week, so that's good."
1 comments:
go ahead Liverpool...... good game with West Ham United.......
Post a Comment