Carra: I stopped looking at table

Jamie Carragher admits he has avoided the league table for fear of depressing himself.

But he can gaze at it now after Liverpool's huge win over top-four rivals Aston Villa put them firmly back in the hunt for a Champions League place.

Rafa Benitez's Reds have moved to within four points of fourth-placed Tottenham and Carra feels they have made a statement to their rivals that they are back.

"I haven't been looking at the league table as I didn't want to depress myself, but hopefully we're moving up in the right direction now," said the Reds stalwart.

"This was more than just three points and we've made a statement.

"Villa are a top team with a top manager and it's a difficult place to come, but we controlled the game and got a very important win."

The Liverpool dressing room was buzzing after Fernando Torres' last-gasp strike earned them their first back-to-back league wins since September.

Carragher claims Liverpool must build on this morale-boosting win and not squander this opportunity like they did when they failed to follow up their successes over Manchester United and Everton with victories.

"There is nothing better than getting a last-minute winner," said Carragher. "You could see how much it meant to everyone, but we have just got to move on now.

"There are a lot of teams looking at us and thinking they can take our place in the top four.

"Hopefully it will put us on a good run and we can build on this result." 

After being adrift of the top four before Christmas, Liverpool can close the gap on Spurs to just a point when they return to league action against them at Anfield on January 10.

That clash will be even bigger than the Villa game and Carragher can't wait to face Harry Redknapp's men.

"The next game is Tottenham and if we can win that, it will put us right in the mix," he said.

"One game can make a difference. We realise what would have happened had we lost to Villa - people would have said we were miles behind and that would have been it for the top four.

"But we've won and we given ourselves a fighting chance."

Torres' wrote his name into the Liverpool record books with his winner and he is the fastest player to score 50 league goals for the Reds, achieving the feat in just 72 games.

Carragher could only marvel at his ability in eclipsing Anfield scoring greats like Roger Hunt, Ian Rush and Michael Owen.

"Fernando is a great player, a world-class striker," he said. "To beat people like Ian Rush, Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler and Roger Hunt to the record says everything.

"That's why you pay the kind of money we did to sign him, to score last-minute goals like that."

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