By Redsfan
April 22 2005

While the talk among supporters may be about next weeks Champions League game against Chelsea, Rafa Benitez insists their first focus must be on the league game against Crystal Palace. He said:


"We need to think about the Palace game and then the Chelsea clash after that. We have to beat Crystal Palace and then see what we can do in the semi-final," said the manager.

"There's no easy game at this stage of the season. All of our players must be ready to play and then it's up to us to decide which players to use. We have a lot of games in a short space of time and so we have to make the right decisions.

"It's so important at this stage of the season to win games away from home. It's always our idea to win away, but now more than ever we really do need results away from Anfield as well as at home. That's why we have to go into the Palace game with the same mentality we had against Portsmouth.

"It's a difficult game when you play against a side towards the bottom of the table, but we'll go into the match full of confidence after a good win in midweek."

Despite Liverpool's failure to close the gap on Everton on Wednesday night, the boss is pleased his players are at least giving themselves a chance of finishing fourth with some high quality performances.

"We are creating lots of chances which is important," he said. "We had 18 shots against Tottenham and then at Portsmouth we had a lot of opportunities to score more than just two goals. Of course when the chances come you need to score and that's our idea.

"Our performance against Portsmouth pleased me. We passed the ball from side to side and played well.

"As I've said before, we can't contol what the other teams do. All I have told the players is we need to pick up three more points than Everton over the last four games. That's what we're aiming for and we'll fight until the very end.

"We're working very hard to get to where we want to be. It seems at the moment that the only time I have with my family is when I say goodbye in the morning and then hello in the evening. It's difficult when we have so many games to play but I really enjoy my job and I want to be successful this season."