Albert Riera believes that Manchester United are now enjoying the rub of the green in the championship race.
Liverpool were prevented from returning to the top of the table when held to a 1-1 draw by Everton in Monday night’s Merseyside derby.
Despite taking the lead through a well-taken Steven Gerrard strike, Rafael Benitez’s side suffered the late blow of Tim Cahill’s 87th-minute equaliser.
United had moved to the summit when Dimitar Berbatov scored a last-minute winner at Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.
And while insisting Liverpool are “not finished yet” in the scrap for the title, winger Riera reckons the fates are with their Old Trafford rivals at present.
“For Liverpool, a draw is always disappointing,” said the former Espanyol man. “But we have to keep going. There are a lot of games to go before the end of the season, and we just have to continue the way we’ve been doing for most of the season.
“We were really confident with the 1-0 lead, and we haven’t been conceding goals from that position. I thought we defended well and were creating some opportunities, but Everton had a bit of luck at the end.
“I don’t like to talk too much in football about teams being lucky, but at the moment Manchester United are scoring goals in the last minutes and we have now conceded a late goal.
“At least we’re still on the same points as United and you can be sure we are going to keep on fighting with them.
“We’ve got a winning mentality in the dressing room, so to get a draw against Everton isn’t the best result as we want to win every match.”
Earlier in the season, Liverpool were accused of enjoying more than their fair share of fortune with a succession of late goals to win games.
However, Monday’s draw was only the second time this season in which Benitez’s side have surrendered league points after scoring first, the other being November’s 2-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.
And Riera says Liverpool should take the positives out of a difficult game against tough opponents.
“You can look at the game against Everton and say we either gained one point or we lost two points,” he added. “We have to be positive because it’s only January, there’s still a long way to go. We have to look at it at a point gained, because it’s never an easy game against Everton.
“We’ve got a lot of our direct rivals like United to play again, and we just have to keep on going. From Wednesday we’ll start preparing again for the next game.
“I thought Everton played well and they knew how we would play. When you are 1-0 up, you don’t always have to go for the second goal. Keeping possession was the thing we had foremost in mind, but Everton kept at it and got their goal.”
Riera and Liverpool will now turn their attentions to the second installment of their derby double header, with Everton back at Anfield on Sunday for their FA Cup fourth round showdown.
And he said: “Sunday’s game will be just as important. It’s a derby, and that’s always massive. It will be close.
“It’s not the Premier League, but we expect it to be another similar type of game. We want to win because we want to win the FA Cup.”
Liverpool were prevented from returning to the top of the table when held to a 1-1 draw by Everton in Monday night’s Merseyside derby.
Despite taking the lead through a well-taken Steven Gerrard strike, Rafael Benitez’s side suffered the late blow of Tim Cahill’s 87th-minute equaliser.
United had moved to the summit when Dimitar Berbatov scored a last-minute winner at Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.
And while insisting Liverpool are “not finished yet” in the scrap for the title, winger Riera reckons the fates are with their Old Trafford rivals at present.
“For Liverpool, a draw is always disappointing,” said the former Espanyol man. “But we have to keep going. There are a lot of games to go before the end of the season, and we just have to continue the way we’ve been doing for most of the season.
“We were really confident with the 1-0 lead, and we haven’t been conceding goals from that position. I thought we defended well and were creating some opportunities, but Everton had a bit of luck at the end.
“I don’t like to talk too much in football about teams being lucky, but at the moment Manchester United are scoring goals in the last minutes and we have now conceded a late goal.
“At least we’re still on the same points as United and you can be sure we are going to keep on fighting with them.
“We’ve got a winning mentality in the dressing room, so to get a draw against Everton isn’t the best result as we want to win every match.”
Earlier in the season, Liverpool were accused of enjoying more than their fair share of fortune with a succession of late goals to win games.
However, Monday’s draw was only the second time this season in which Benitez’s side have surrendered league points after scoring first, the other being November’s 2-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.
And Riera says Liverpool should take the positives out of a difficult game against tough opponents.
“You can look at the game against Everton and say we either gained one point or we lost two points,” he added. “We have to be positive because it’s only January, there’s still a long way to go. We have to look at it at a point gained, because it’s never an easy game against Everton.
“We’ve got a lot of our direct rivals like United to play again, and we just have to keep on going. From Wednesday we’ll start preparing again for the next game.
“I thought Everton played well and they knew how we would play. When you are 1-0 up, you don’t always have to go for the second goal. Keeping possession was the thing we had foremost in mind, but Everton kept at it and got their goal.”
Riera and Liverpool will now turn their attentions to the second installment of their derby double header, with Everton back at Anfield on Sunday for their FA Cup fourth round showdown.
And he said: “Sunday’s game will be just as important. It’s a derby, and that’s always massive. It will be close.
“It’s not the Premier League, but we expect it to be another similar type of game. We want to win because we want to win the FA Cup.”
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