Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Benitez Prays For United And Chelsea Stumble As Liverpool Target Title Surge


Rafa Benitez hopes title rivals Manchester United and Chelsea will be distracted by the Champions League as Liverpool chase their first Barclays Premier League crown.

The Reds were knocked out of Europe last week after a thrilling tie against Chelsea, leaving Benitez to focus solely on ending their 19-year title drought.

'Hopefully the other teams around us are distracted by the Champions League,' he said. 'When you are playing in two massive competitions it can be difficult and so we have to be ready if other teams make a mistake.

'For us the important thing is to do our job, to prepare properly for every game and look to take three points from each of them. If we do that and then still can't win the league then there's nothing else we can do.'

Although Liverpool's fate is out of their hands, Benitez has called on his players to pile the pressure on United by beating Arsenal at Anfield tonight.

'It still depends on United, but we have to keep the pressure on them,' he added. 'If we win tonight then we go back to the top and put them under more pressure for tomorrow night.'

Unlike their title rivals and tonight's opponents, Liverpool were not involved at the weekend and have had a week's break to prepare for the visit of Arsenal.

'We've had a full week to prepare for Arsenal which has been good because we have been able to look at all of the small details, which I always like to do,' said Benitez.

'The players have trained really well and yesterday's session was fantastic. The atmosphere among them is really good and I feel we are in a good moment.

'It will be hard for Arsenal to lose fourth place in the table now so I think their main emphasis will be on the Champions League. They still have to play all of the top three so it would be a good message if we can beat them tonight.

'They are a team who always look to play football so I'm not expecting them to defend. They will try to play against us, but if we can play at our level, with a high tempo, and look to get at them from the first whistle then I am sure we can beat them.'

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