Rafa Benitez today told his players not to worry about Manchester United and to have total belief in themselves.
Liverpool currently trail the league leaders by five points and the gap could tomorrow be stretched to eight should United beat Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford.
But with the Reds set to take on Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday Benitez knows the dynamic at the top of the table could still shift in favour of the Reds as long as they retain their focus and belief in the weeks to come.
“The first thing to stress is that we cannot change anything that other teams are doing unless we are playing them,” said the Anfield boss.
“We can only improve the things that depend on us and what we do ourselves - so it is important that we keep our focus.
“Clearly we have to believe in ourselves because we are in the position that we are in in the league table because we deserve to be there.
“We know that every single league game from now until the end of the season will be important and we cannot start to think about where we may or may not be in two or three games time if results go this way or that way.
“All we can do is focus on each game as it comes and try to do everything we can for winning.
“You never know what will happen at this stage of the season, there are often some strange results and this is why we must keep our concentration and not think too much about anyone or anything else.
“Training at Melwood has been really good this week and the mood among the players has been very positive, so hopefully we can take this into Sunday’s game.”
Benitez’s contract situation is yet to be resolved and he today told the ECHO: “There is no news and I want to concentrate on the football.”
But one thing which he insists is not in any doubt is that the battle for the title is not a two horse race between his own side and United as it has been billed in some quarters.
Benitez is refusing to rule out Aston Villa and reckons Martin O’Neill’s team could still have a major say in the destination of this year’s Premier League trophy.
He added: I think it's too soon to say it's a two horse race.
“We have to keep going and then maybe at the end it could be down to two teams.
“Aston Villa are in a good position also but I am not surprised by this because they have good players.
“They are working really hard and are in a good position, and that makes motivation for each game easier.”
Liverpool currently trail the league leaders by five points and the gap could tomorrow be stretched to eight should United beat Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford.
But with the Reds set to take on Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday Benitez knows the dynamic at the top of the table could still shift in favour of the Reds as long as they retain their focus and belief in the weeks to come.
“The first thing to stress is that we cannot change anything that other teams are doing unless we are playing them,” said the Anfield boss.
“We can only improve the things that depend on us and what we do ourselves - so it is important that we keep our focus.
“Clearly we have to believe in ourselves because we are in the position that we are in in the league table because we deserve to be there.
“We know that every single league game from now until the end of the season will be important and we cannot start to think about where we may or may not be in two or three games time if results go this way or that way.
“All we can do is focus on each game as it comes and try to do everything we can for winning.
“You never know what will happen at this stage of the season, there are often some strange results and this is why we must keep our concentration and not think too much about anyone or anything else.
“Training at Melwood has been really good this week and the mood among the players has been very positive, so hopefully we can take this into Sunday’s game.”
Benitez’s contract situation is yet to be resolved and he today told the ECHO: “There is no news and I want to concentrate on the football.”
But one thing which he insists is not in any doubt is that the battle for the title is not a two horse race between his own side and United as it has been billed in some quarters.
Benitez is refusing to rule out Aston Villa and reckons Martin O’Neill’s team could still have a major say in the destination of this year’s Premier League trophy.
He added: I think it's too soon to say it's a two horse race.
“We have to keep going and then maybe at the end it could be down to two teams.
“Aston Villa are in a good position also but I am not surprised by this because they have good players.
“They are working really hard and are in a good position, and that makes motivation for each game easier.”
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