Benitez Sets Sights On Pompey

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has called on his Premier League leaders to remain focused as they prepare to face Portsmouth on Wednesday.

The Reds ended Chelsea's 86-match unbeaten home record with a 1-0 success at Stamford Bridge on Sunday but Benitez is warning his players not to get carried away with the success.

Liverpool are now three points clear at the top of the table and enjoying their best start to a Premier League campaign.

"We need three points in our next game against Portsmouth if we are going to keep this mentality," said Benitez.

"We have to come down and start thinking about Portsmouth. We knew it was important to beat Manchester United but then we drew with Stoke.

"But clearly if you want to stay at the top of the table for a long time you have to beat almost everyone because Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal will be behind you.

"To win at Chelsea and stay top of the table unbeaten is a massive message for the other teams.

"It was a massive game and to come here with the mentality we had and with the players showing the character they did, it was a big boost for the rest of the season.

"We have belief, we have quality and we have shown by coming from behind in other games this season, that we have character. At least this is enough to be top of the table for now."

Liverpool clinched victory thanks to Xabi Alonso's first-half shot which was deflected past Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech by Jose Bosingwa.

Alonso almost made it two when his free-kick struck the foot of a post in the second half.

The visitors were always in charge and Ashley Cole's wayward shot from eight yards was their best chance of levelling the scores.

It was Chelsea's first defeat at home in the league since Arsenal beat them 2-1 in February 2004.

Now, Benitez believes they have the belief to go anywhere and win.

"We can go to any stadium and win games. Against a very good Chelsea team, a very offensive team, we showed we were thinking about winning," he added.

Riera Keen To Maintain Momentum

Liverpool winger Albert Riera is confident the Reds can maintain their early-season momentum following Sunday's win over Chelsea.

Reira told BBC Radio Merseyside: "Chelsea was a massive game and it was important for us and our supporters.

"Now we are unbeaten and are strong like Chelsea.

"People know we want to continue at the top and it will be difficult to beat us," the 26-year-old Spain international said.

Reira has been a regular in Rafa Benitez's side since joining from Espanyol in the close-season and has featured in their victories over Everton, Manchester United and Chelsea this season.

But he is refusing to get carried away with his promising start to life at Anfield.

"I think always you can be better, this is the thing I have in my mind now," he said.

"The best way to progress is to think 'I can be better and I can help the team more.'

"I can progress a little more but when you win you can be happy," he added.

Liverpool Boss Benitez: "We Can Go To Any Stadium And Win Games"

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has claimed that his Reds side “can go to any stadium and win games” after the Merseyside club ended Chelsea’s 86 match unbeaten run at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Midfielder’s Xabi Alonso’s first half deflected goal was enough to secure the three points in the top-of-the-table clash with Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side, with Liverpool now three points clear at the top of the Premier League.

Benitez believes that by winning at Chelsea and remaining unbeaten has sent a “massive message” to their Premiership rivals, while hailing the “character” of his Anfield side.

“To win here and stay top of the table unbeaten is a massive message for the other teams,” said Benitez.

“It was a massive game and to come here with the mentality we had and with the players showing the character they did, it was a big boost for the rest of the season.

“We have belief, we have quality and we have shown by coming from behind in other games this season, that we have character. At least this is enough to be top of the table for now.

“But we need three points in our next game against Portsmouth if we are going to keep this mentality.

“We can go to any stadium and win games. Today, against a very good team, a very offensive team, we showed we were thinking about winning.

“The players know what to do and it is difficult for the opposition to create chances. Chelsea had some chances but their final pass was not the best on occasions.

“They didn't have too many chances. My players were really good and all credit to them. When you have players with quality and they work so hard, you have a winning team.

“But we have to come down and start thinking about Portsmouth. We knew it was important to beat Manchester United but then we drew with Stoke.

“But clearly if you want to stay at the top of the table for a long time you have to beat almost everyone because Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal will be behind you.”

Gerrard: Pressure Starts Now

Steven Gerrard has played down Liverpool's achievement in topping the Premier League table and warned his team-mates the hard work is about to start.

Rafael Benitez's side showed their title credentials on Sunday with a 1-0 at Stamford Bridge that ended Chelsea's record-breaking unbeaten home run.

That gave them a three-point cushion over the Blues and came on the back of a victory over Manchester United earlier this season.

Ahead of Wednesday's visit of Portsmouth, Gerrard told The Times: "It's important not to get carried away. We're still only in October.

"We're in a nice position in the league, but Chelsea are a fantastic side, who will come back, and Manchester United will be there or thereabouts.

"We've won nothing yet. It was a massive win and three big points, but if we slip up against Portsmouth, those points will be irrelevant.

"To win this league and become champions, you have to handle the pressure of being at the top.

"That's the challenge for us now. Can we handle being top of the league? We've done superbly well so far, we're unbeaten, and we have to keep that going now, starting against Portsmouth."

Jamie Carragher: Liverpool FC Can Handle Pressure At The Top

JAMIE CARRAGHER insists Liverpool’s players can handle the pressure of leading from the front – because being top of the Premier League is where they expect to be.

Their unbeaten start to the season continued on Sunday when they won 1-0 at Chelsea, a victory which took them three points clear of their opponents.

The win, which ended the Londoners’ 86-game unbeaten home record in the league, is being widely regarded as evidence that Liverpool are finally ready to make a serious bid for their first title win since 1990.

And they have only dropped four points in their first nine games, during their best start to a season in 18 years.

But Carragher reckons that the quality of the squad at Anfield is now strong enough to convince him that they should be in that position – and has warned that they have to prove it by staying there.

“We’re not going to get too carried away – we’re Liverpool,” said the centre-back. “Don’t get me wrong, we’re delighted with the win (at Chelsea) but we’re not getting carried away at being top of the league after nine games.

“That’s where we should be. We’re a massive club with a lot of top players, so we’re only doing what we should be doing.

“Chelsea hadn’t lost in four years at home, and that’s the first time I’ve ever won at Chelsea and I’ve been playing for 10 years now. It’s a tough place to go and credit to them for their record, but I’m just delighted we’re the team that has broken it.

“It’s a great result that no other side has managed over the last four years, so it’s something to be enjoyed.

“But we’ve got Portsmouth next, and if we don’t get a good result there then we won’t have really capitalised on this win.”

Carragher added: “Being top of the league, we’re now going to be the team people will look to beat.

I’m sure people will talk about us more.

“We’re going to have to deal with that now.

“But we’ve got a lot of experienced players, big internationals who have won trophies before.It’s something we will have to handle.”

Portsmouth arrive at Anfield tomorrow as a club in limbo following manager Harry Redknapp’s sudden switch to Tottenham at the weekend.

Assistant manager Tony Adams and coach Joe Jordan are currently in charge of the side but the immediate future of the club is uncertain amid fears many players may follow Redknapp to White Hart Lane in January.

Liverpool follow the visit of Pompey with a trip to Tottenham on Saturday but Carragher is confident that they can avoid a similar slip-up to the one which followed their previous victory over a top four rival.

The 2-1 win over Manchester United at Anfield in September was followed by a goalless draw with Stoke City that threw up immediate question-marks over their ability to sustain the consistency needed for a title challenge.

But Carragher said: “There was a lot of talk at the time about the result, but that kind of thing happens from time to time. It’s not like we were getting complacent about anything.

“We were very unlucky against Stoke and nine times out of 10 we’d have won that game.

“But for most of the season we’ve done quite well and we want to push on now.

“We’ve got Portsmouth next and then Tottenham, and there’s a lot of stuff going on with those two clubs at the moment. You can never tell how they are going to react, so I’m sure the next two games will be tough, but we’ve got to aim to take maximum points.”

Alonso Proving Liverpool Can Do Without Barry

As Jamie Carragher once so delicately put it, Xabi Alonso does not tend to command "short odds on the first goalscorer betting slip".

So it was of no surprise to anyone that he was quick yesterday to claim as his own the deflected goal which put Liverpool top of the pile on Sunday.

"It was my goal," Alonso said of the effort which Chelsea's Jose Bosingwa deflected past Petr Cech.

"The shot was on its way towards the goal when it was deflected, but that happens, that's part of football and you have to cope with these things when they go for you and when they go against."

Since Alonso has experienced considerably more of the latter than the former in a general footballing sense over the the past four months, there can be few more deserving matchwinners at a place like Stamford Bridge than him.

There will always be personal scores to settle for Alonso where Chelsea are concerned — Eidur Gudjohnsen's admission that he feined injury to get him suspended from the second leg of the clubs' Champions League semi final second leg in 2005, for instance.

But Alonso has had something more substantial to prove about himself since a summer in which, while the 26-year-old was busy contributing to Spain's European Championship success, Rafael Benitez was trying to sell him against his wishes to Juventus.

Alonso would have been on the way out had Juventus or Arsenal provided the £18m Benitez was looking for to finance Gareth Barry's purchase.

His renaissanc, when it really counted this season — he was also outstanding in the defining win against Manchester United — has not been lost on Steven Gerrard, a sensitive individual for whom a summer like Alonso's would have been personally unbearable.

"I must give a special mention for Alonso," Gerrard said recently.

"He had a very difficult time just before the transfer window shut, and didn't know if he was coming and going."

When you're looking for an idea of how much character an individual posesses there is no better reference point than Carragher.

His biography is a searing critique of the Benitez era and his judgment of Alonso within it a revealing one. Carragher brackets the central midfielder as one of those players who show "the hunger I relate to, embracing the culture and mentality of the supporters," his passing providing "the guile alongside Gerrard which we'd been lacking."

Though Liverpool's willingness to part company with the playmaker seemed to have affected his relationship with his compatriot Benitez irrevocably — Alonso recently told Gazzetta dello Sport that "for my part, the attraction (of Juventus) has remained intact" — playing a part in restoring the championship to Anfield after an 18-year wait would presumably change everything.

He was certainly rolling up his sleeves at the prospect yesterday.

"The three points against Chelsea are as important as the three points against Wigan and the three that are available against Portsmouth on Wednesday — they are all of the same value," he said.

"When everyone works really hard for one another you have a chance to beat anyone.

"It was really important to score first as well because it would have been very difficult to come back in a game like this one.

"Now we have to think about Wednesday and remain really calm.

"We are professionals and we are conscious that there is still a long way to go and we are steady and we are calm."

Statistics certainly bear him out on the last part.

Though Liverpool have never enjoyed a better start to a Premier League campaign, they are acquainted with being top at this time of a Premier League season — and watching everything fall apart thereafter.

Gerard Houllier's side led the rest of the pack for a month in October 2002 after Salif Diao's winner at Leeds (neither Carragher not Gerrard spared his sensitivities in their biographies), only to finish the season fifth and 19 points off the top having failed to win in 11 matches after November 9.

They were also top for a fortnight in September last year before imploding.

On neither of those two occasions had Liverpool enjoyed the immense psychological benefits of having beaten the two sides who, by a huge distance, are favourites to take the title.

Neither were their sides so settled. One of the many problems they have currently ironed out is that obstinate one of who to play down the left wing, with Albert Riera's display in that position at Stamford Bridge providing more evidence that he is the answer.

The Liverpool fans who chanted Alonso's name against Lazio pre-season, when it looked like he was leaving, will tell you that Liverpool wouldn't have Riera either had Alonso left and freed the cash for Barry instead.

Alonso is acutely aware of the lasting effects of beating both Manchester United and Chelsea, even though Liverpool's talisman Fernando Torres may be misssing against Portsmouth and at White Hart Lane next weekend.

"[Sunday] was very important for us because in the last few seasons in the league we have been [to Chelsea] and we haven't had the best results," he said.

For Benitez, the defensive effort — in particular Sami Hypia's — will have been the most comforting part of Chelsea's first defeat at home in the league since Arsenal beat them 2-1 in February 2004.

But don't be surprised if this proves Liverpool's weakness.

Andrea Dossena has looked out of his depth from the moment he strode onto a pitch at Liege in August and Alvaro Arbeloa is another Benitez full back who, like the victim of a random mugging, too often finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When he plays, 34-year-old Hypia lacks pace for those sides who will run at him.

But Benitez's immediate challenge is to keep a lid on expectations.

His side have a run of fixtures - Spurs, West Brom, Bolton, West Ham, Fulham and Blackburn — which should enable them to maintain their presence at the top of the table, though it risks confounding Benitez's attempts to be the ‘invisible' team who sneak through as contenders while no-one is looking.

"It must be one game at a time," said Alonso, the voice of experience Benitez so nearly didn't have to call on.

Hansen: Liverpool Have A Great Chance

Alan Hansen believes Rafael Benitez's Liverpool side now have their "best chance" of winning the league title for the first time since 1990.

The Reds ended Chelsea's 86-match unbeaten home record with a 1-0 success at Stamford Bridge yesterday to put them clear at the top of the Premier League and further boost belief they can finally mount a sustained title challenge.

And Hansen believes they have shown they are equipped to push favourites Manchester United and Chelsea all the way.

"I would like to congratulate Rafa Benitez and his team for pulling off an incredible result at Stamford Bridge," said Hansen.

"To beat a Chelsea side on their own patch where they've not lost in 86 League games is fantastic.

"It wasn't just the result but also the manner of the win which was so impressive.

"After just half an hour there was only going to be one winner as the Liverpool tactics were spot on and the team display was outstanding."

Hansen added: "After this great start to the season, this is the best chance Liverpool have had to win the title since they last won the trophy back in 1990 as they're looking very much a team.

"They've shown great resilience in some remarkable comebacks, the signing of Albert Riera has given them great width and players such as Dirk Kuyt have performed far better than they have played before.

"Rafa's team looks very solid and you get the feeling that when teams put pressure on them as Chelsea attempted to do, they're not going to fall apart.

"They may have dropped points at home to Stoke but winning the title is not all about thrashing teams every week but how teams respond to setbacks.

"That's the big test and from the Liverpool performances so far this season, the players have shown the kind of resilience that suggests they would bounce back from any poor result with great spirit," the former Liverpool captain continued.

"This was a momentous result but the victory over Manchester United at Anfield is the result that gave Liverpool the real belief they could beat the likes of Chelsea. If Rafa's team had lost that one, I don't think they would have truly felt they could win at Stamford Bridge.

"However, by finally beating United they have become a team in every sense of the word as confidence and belief is sky high to launch a far too long-awaited title challenge."