Rafa's challenge for players

Rafa Benitez today called on his Liverpool players to maintain the standards they've set over the last month as they continue their top four charge against Wolves this evening.

Victory at Molineux could move the Reds into the Barclays Premier League's top quartet, should Tottenham fail to defeat Fulham at White Hart Lane.

And Benitez is eager for his charges to sustain the level of performance that has seen them collect 10 points from a possible 12 in their last four league outings.

"Everything is going well now and hopefully it can be the same until the end of the season," said the boss.

"The players are training really well, with intensity all the time and they know the difference between last year and this one is that we have been conceding too many goals and we are working on ways to stop this.

"Now we have more confidence but it is a question of proving this on the pitch. Wolves will be a good test, we will have to show our character again and if we can do it, it will be easier to approach the next game against Bolton.

"The Premier League this year is very difficult. Everyone can beat everyone else so you have to approach the game with confidence but also a lot of respect because we know that they will be very tough.

"The players take responsibility, they know that they were not playing at the level but they have been sticking together and working so hard and first we won at Aston Villa, then we drew with Stoke but could have won, and then we beat Tottenham."

Liverpool secured a 2-0 victory over Tottenham last time out without the likes of Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres, Yossi Benayoun, Glen Johnson and Daniel Agger.

Though key players will again be missing against Wolves, Gerrard has since resumed training at Melwood and Benitez is confident his troops can replicate their Spurs performance against Wolves.

"If you have a good squad you can do it," said the Spaniard. "We have had a lot of players playing too many games because the injuries made it impossible to make changes.

"Now we have players available and we can make changes if necessary and hopefully this will help us to keep a good level.

"We proved in the past that we could win without Torres and Gerrard but when the team is not playing well and you have some problems it is more difficult when you lose players of such importance.

"We have lost a lot of players at different times. In our last game we were without five quality players and still the team did well. Sometimes this isn't possible but right now it is because we have more confidence."

Benitez confirmed on Monday Gerrard is in contention for the trip to the Midlands following a hamstring problem.

The manager accepts injuries have disrupted his captain's season so far, but he is backing the 29-year-old to go from strength to strength in the second half of the campaign.

He said: "Gerrard is a very important player for us. Sometimes he has not been fully fit and this is something as a manager you know. It was the same with Torres but we knew that we had to manage.

"When you cannot manage a player, you have to take the risk. Sometimes we've had problems with Stevie, but now we have more control. Now that we can have a normal week's training, it will be much better for him.

"Sometimes the player is available and is not fully fit but has to play as he is very important. We don't have any problem in terms of his level. He knows he has to improve and wants to do it, and a full week's training will make things better for him.

"And I don't have any doubt about Gerrard's commitment. Nobody has. He can play better or worse, but he will always try.

"The consistency of form is something you can only find when you train every day and have training sessions in a row.

"If you are injured and have to start again, and injured and have to start again, then it's difficult for any player, be it Gerrard, Torres, Benayoun or whoever."

Injuries have also prevented Benitez from selecting a settled defensive line this term.

He added: "It's a big difference because sometimes we have conceded goals because of bad luck and other times we have had to change our back four and this has disrupted us," he says.

"We started with Carra and Skrtel but then we got injuries and it was Agger and Carra. Now we have brought Soto (Kyrgiakos) in after a time of adaptation.

"Also on the left we have had Fabio Aurelio but he has been injured so we have had to play Insua more.

"We have had to change too many things at a time when we were also introducing Johnson, an offensive full-back, into the team. We have also played with Ayala, San Jose and Kelly so it has been really difficult to get a settled back four."

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