Rafa Benitez believes that the next two weeks could make or break Liverpool's chances of Premier League glory.
The Reds face testing games against Manchester City, Middlesbrough and Sunderland in the league, as well as a trip to the Bernabeu for the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League.
Achieving success in these four games would then set them up for the home tie against Real Madrid, shortly followed by the crunch meeting at Manchester that could well decide the destination of the league title.
For the moment though, Benitez insists that his side must gain maximum points from the upcoming games in order to make the upheaval of United's lead a real possibility.
"It now depends on one or two weeks to see what happens. Everything can change in just a few days," said Benitez.
"This is a crucial time, we have four games in a few days and that can make a massive difference to whether we will be fighting for trophies at the end of the season.
"At this stage, you can only think of taking three points and then seeing how your rivals do. We cannot influence what happens to other teams so we must concentrate on our own job and see whether someone else loses a match or two."
Few expect that Sir Alex Ferguson's experienced side will surrender their commanding lead at the top, but Benitez remains convinced that the game at Old Trafford can be the key to the title - so long as his charges are still in touch with the champions when they take to the field on 14th March.
"If we win our games before we go to Old Trafford, and then we win, the gap will be just two and then we will wait to see how that affects the situation," the Spaniard added.
"It does not matter what other teams say about us being challengers or not, we just have to do our job and win our games.
"Five points is a significant lead. But it is not impossible."
The Reds face testing games against Manchester City, Middlesbrough and Sunderland in the league, as well as a trip to the Bernabeu for the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League.
Achieving success in these four games would then set them up for the home tie against Real Madrid, shortly followed by the crunch meeting at Manchester that could well decide the destination of the league title.
For the moment though, Benitez insists that his side must gain maximum points from the upcoming games in order to make the upheaval of United's lead a real possibility.
"It now depends on one or two weeks to see what happens. Everything can change in just a few days," said Benitez.
"This is a crucial time, we have four games in a few days and that can make a massive difference to whether we will be fighting for trophies at the end of the season.
"At this stage, you can only think of taking three points and then seeing how your rivals do. We cannot influence what happens to other teams so we must concentrate on our own job and see whether someone else loses a match or two."
Few expect that Sir Alex Ferguson's experienced side will surrender their commanding lead at the top, but Benitez remains convinced that the game at Old Trafford can be the key to the title - so long as his charges are still in touch with the champions when they take to the field on 14th March.
"If we win our games before we go to Old Trafford, and then we win, the gap will be just two and then we will wait to see how that affects the situation," the Spaniard added.
"It does not matter what other teams say about us being challengers or not, we just have to do our job and win our games.
"Five points is a significant lead. But it is not impossible."
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