Blues scalp could change Reds season, says Benitez

RAFAEL BENITEZ has called for a first league victory over champions Chelsea under his command to change the course of Liverpool’s season.

The Anfield chief has spent this week making sure everything he and his players have said about today’s lunchtime showdown with Jose Mourinho’s men has been low-key in the extreme.

Benitez issued a decree that none of Liverpool’s players say anything even vaguely provocative about their big rivals from West London.

But Benitez knows that a victory in front of the Kop for his side, to extend their 15-month unbeaten home league record, will be the most significant domestic triumph of his Liverpool career.

It will be his 100th Premiership match since taking over 31 months ago, and a win will equal Bill Shankly’s record over his first 100 league games at the club.

Benitez has won 55 of his first 99 league games, one short of Shankly’s total and beaten only by Kenny Dalglish’s 61 in the club’s all-time list.

A momentous day for sure but one Benitez knows is pivotal for the club and the soon-to-be new Dubai-based backers who will be in the directors’ box scrutinising their likely new acquisition.

Now Benitez says: “We have lost our last two home games in cup-ties against Arsenal, so we know we must put that right in front of our own fans. Now we must show character and that we are better than that.

“We won at Watford last weekend to show what we were capable of and now we must do the same against Chelsea, to show we are a good team and can get really close to them. If we can do that we will have another target.

“But if we can win we will be closer, and there is still a long way to go.”

Spanish keeper Jose Reina has come closest to underlining the critical importance of the game, one that Chelsea have won in the last three occasions.

Reina said: “This may be our last opportunity to reduce the big advantage they have over us. You always go one step at a time, but this could be a much bigger step forward than usual.”

Not even talk of the controversy surrounding Mourinho’s Chelsea future could disturb Benitez’s focus on the match — recalling that the champions were the last team to win a league game at Anfield back in October ‘05.

Benitez said: “Whatever has been said this week about Chelsea, it is always hard to play against them now, a month ago or two months ago. It does not matter.

“They are a top side, not with just one important player but many. This is a test for us, but then the same applies when we play Manchester United and Arsenal at Anfield in the next few weeks.

“If we can beat them people will say we can make a real fight of it. Against the top sides we have to improve, and we have the confidence that we can do that.”

Benitez added: “If we can beat Chelsea, then we can also talk of the top, why not? But we have to win first.

“It is an important weekend for us because the other major game is Arsenal against Manchester United. For the top four it is a very crucial time, these results are so important for us all.”