Babel: I was always happy

Ryan Babel believes he is close to producing his best form in a Liverpool shirt after being given an extended run in the first team.

The Dutch winger has featured in each of the Reds' last six fixtures - four as a starter.

That sequence has included two goals, the second of which helped Liverpool to a 4-1 win over Portsmouth on Monday night.

Babel told Liverpoolfc.tv: "Slowly I'm feeling stronger. Hopefully now I can continue to get stronger. With every game you'll start to see the best of me.

"I was always happy at Liverpool. Obviously you're always frustrated when you can't show people what you can do - but that's not just me, that's every player.

"But that's the past and now I want to go forward here at Liverpool."

The Portsmouth victory elevated the Reds to fifth in the table, one point behind Tottenham.

Babel believes Monday's performance is now the benchmark for the club's remaining eight Premier League fixtures.

The 23-year-old said: "These three points are very important but now this passion and the way we played in defence and attack is the basis of how we have to play in the remaining games."

Watch Babel's goal>>

Liverpool went into the match on the back of consecutive defeats to Wigan and Lille - but Babel thinks confidence has now been restored ahead of the Lille return and Sunday's visit to Old Trafford.

"I think we had a point to prove in terms of getting a result," he said. "I don't think the performance at Lille was as bad as some people think but here we definitely showed character and passion, and hopefully we can now look forward.

"If you can score an early goal then the confidence raises straight away. Then when a second comes everyone in the team feels confident and can play in a more relaxed way.

"It would definitely be nice to win at Old Trafford like last year but, first of all, hopefully Thursday will be good and then we'll go to Old Trafford full of confidence."