Quality of Mersey

WIGAN manager Roberto Martinez is convinced Liverpool will finish fourth in the Premier League.

The Reds travel to the DW Stadium tonight looking for a victory to take them back above Tottenham and Manchester City into the final Champions League spot.

With Aston Villa still in the running, the battle for fourth looks set to go to the wire, but Martinez feels that, having qualified for Europe’s premier club competition so many times before, Liverpool’s know-how gives them the edge.

“They have great experience and whoever is going to have that composure and calmness in the next 10 or 11 games, it’s going to make a big difference,” Martinez said.

“Looking at the Liverpool squad and the quality of their individuals, that position is theirs to lose.”

Wigan are without a win in their last seven league games but having beaten Chelsea 3-1 at the DW in September, Martinez believes his side are capable of producing a result.

“We’ll have to be at our best,” said Martinez, “but we are playing at home. We have done it against Chelsea before and we need to feel confident about ourselves.”

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez will warn his players against complacency.

“Because Wigan are at the bottom of the table people will say ‘You have to win this game’, but we know it is not just this one.

“It will be Portsmouth, United or someone else, so we have to be ready for every game.

“We know we have to concentrate. Sometimes there is more determination in a team fighting relegation but maybe they will be more anxious and will make more mistakes. It depends on the character of the players.”

Nothing less than a victory at Wigan will do, however, as Liverpool would then have played one more match than Tottenham – whom they would have a two-point advantage over – two more than Manchester City and three more than Villa.

“You cannot change what other teams do,” said Benitez. “No-one was expecting the top teams to lose so many games.

“Last season we lost just two and couldn’t win the title. This year teams are losing four or five games so you do not know.”

Benitez may decide to give England defender Glen Johnson his comeback against Wigan. Johnson has been out since December with a knee ligament injury and is likely to feature from the bench.

Charles N’Zogbia (knee injury) and Paul Scharner (groin) will have late fitness tests for Wigan.