SOCCER/Chelsea v Liverpool: As Liverpool's team bus crawled away from Goodison Park last Saturday, waved on by gloating Evertonians, the realisation that their hopes of ending the club's 17-year wait for the championship had already taken a severe blow was not slow to dawn on Rafael Benitez's players.

Tomorrow's trip to Chelsea was always going be viewed as pivotal in Liverpool's season but Stamford Bridge is probably the last place Benitez would have wanted to go on the back of such a defeat.

"These games have a big bearing on what happens and we need to improve our record against the top teams," said the England defender Jamie Carragher. "If you get beat, you are losing three points but it feels like six.

"We need to improve against the top sides because the competition is so fierce now in the Premiership that you cannot afford many slip-ups. We got one over on them in the Community Shield but obviously we would prefer to get three points from them now."

Carragher is right to be concerned. While Jose Mourinho's team could not beat Liverpool last season in their two Champions League games and fell to them in the FA Cup semi-final, Chelsea boast a 100 per cent record against Benitez's team in the Premiership.

Indeed, Liverpool's record against their three main rivals for the title - Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal - is a source of embarrassment for a club with such grand aspirations. In Benitez's first season at the helm, Liverpool gained only three points from a possible 18 against the big three. Last season was almost as bad, with just four points being collected. Defeat tomorrow would leave Liverpool eight points adrift of the champions.

"They have a bit of lead on us at the moment and we are looking to go there and get a good result but it is a bit much to start building it up as a make-or-break game," said Carragher, though he was keen to emphasise that, despite United's 100 per cent start to the season, he still regarded Mourinho's team as the title favourites.

"Chelsea are still the team to beat for me. United have got the edge on them in terms of points at the moment but Chelsea are still the team to catch and it will be a big test for us. The Everton game was a major slip-up for us last week. It was a big defeat but it was our first for 18 games and we haven't become a bad team overnight. We got back on track a bit against PSV Eindhoven in midweek."

Benitez is bullish about his team's title chances. He said: "I'm surprised so many people are saying that if we lose, the title will be impossible. Last year we won only one of the first six league games but still finished the season with 82 points and came third. This time, more teams are capable of beating the big sides and I wouldn't be surprised if a team with 75 points finished first."

Benitez must decide whether Daniel Agger plays at the back in place of Sami Hyypia as well as the construction of his strike force with Craig Bellamy, Peter Crouch and Dirk Kuyt challenging for a place. He must also balance the fact Liverpool find it less difficult to beat Chelsea in cup-ties rather than the league. He said: "Maybe the difference is it harder to break them down in league games when a draw is an option . . . We are due a good result in the league against them and we have more quality than last season. Against the other top sides we must improve and we are doing so."

Guardian Service