League title still in Benitez's sights despite Wigan draw

LIVERPOOL, England: Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez insists his team is still in the race for the Premier League title despite sitting 12 points behind Arsenal.

The Reds failed to close the gap on the Gunners as much as they would have liked after a 1-1 draw with Wigan, which saw Liverpool, who endured a goalless draw at Manchester City on Sunday, drop points for the second successive match.

Wednesday's result at Anfield, combined with City's 2-0 win away to Newcastle United, also saw the Manchester club leapfrog Liverpool into fourth place in the table.

Liverpool still have to travel to the top three of Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea, having picked up just two points from three home games against the leading trio.

Despite his team having failed to win five of its last eight games, Benitez is adamant that Liverpool still have a chance of ending their 18-year wait for the league title, which they last won in 1990.

"It's clear the gap is bigger but I've said before that it's a long race and you need to keep thinking about one game at a time if you can. If you think about the difference, I think you will play with more pressure," said Benitez, whose team begin its FA Cup campaign against struggling third-tier team Luton Town on Sunday.

"It's clear that you must try to play well, create chances, score goals and win games and see the situation every week," the Spaniard added.

"It's a difficult position (to be chasing the leaders again) but especially when you know you're creating chances in all of the games and you can't score the second goal and kill the game. It's a problem."

Benitez also defended his policy of playing Fernando Torres on his own in attack for 82 minutes against Wigan at Anfield.

Torres opened the scoring just after halftime, but Titus Bramble snatched a point for the visitors, who climbed out of the bottom three on the back of this result, with 10 minutes left.

"We were trying to play with wingers really wide and spread out the other team and Gerrard getting into the box," Benitez explained.

"We had two or three chances and if you play with two or three strikers, they can play deep and compact. We were trying to play with wingers to create space."

Wigan manager Steve Bruce took his side out of the relegation zone with the point at Anfield and revealed he is close to adding to his squad during this month's transfer window.

"We have to be in and around and in the pack. If we can add, and the chairman will back me, three or four new faces in January, that will give us a little strength in depth.

"We're making one or two enquiries and as usual we're boxing a bit clever," the former Manchester United captain added.

"I knew the job would be hard when I took over. We were only two points above (bottom club) Derby so you have to bring a bit of belief."

AFP

(China Daily 01/04/2008 page24)