Rafael Benitez knows Liverpool must maintain momentum if they are going to beat Manchester United to the league title.
Benitez witnessed the 5-0 demolition of 10-man Aston Villa at Anfield on Sunday that sees the Reds close to within one point of the champions, who have a match in hand.
Steven Gerrard scored a dead-ball hat-trick while Albert Riera and Dirk Kuyt added the others as Liverpool made it three stunning wins in 12 days having beaten Manchester United and Real Madrid 4-1 and 4-0 respectively.
Liverpool are putting intense pressure now on United, who have lost their last two Barclays Premier League matches and had three players sent off in those matches with Liverpool and Fulham.
Benitez said: "As far as the title chase is concerned, we just have to keep doing our job, we must not be concerned about United's results and how they are playing.
"If United do make mistakes, we must be ready, and that means carrying on doing what we are doing and winning points.
"We are playing well and they will see that we are playing well and trying to win every game. We have eight games left and every one must be won and be treated as a cup final.
"Certainly we must maintain this momentum and, when we are playing well, it just increases confidence.
"We now have an international break so the players must come back from that, re-group and start playing again just as we are at the moment."
For Villa manager Martin O'Neill there was the reality check that his side are not yet good enough to battle it out with the big boys, and they are left three points behind Arsenal in the scrap for the fourth Champions League spot.
O'Neill said: "My players have to learn from this. It is something that the youngsters in my side have to experience.
"We do not have enough strength in depth, certainly not a big enough squad. They big boys have been down this road before, they have the squads and they know how to handle a run-in.
"We have to play at a consistent level. We cannot just do it one game in four, it has to be all the time."
O'Neill conceded his side were over-powered, saying: "We were well beaten by an exceptional Liverpool side.
"But we did contribute to our own downfall. At 1-0 down we gave away an unbelievably bad goal, it was a shocking mistake.
"Liverpool have had two remarkable results before this game, beating Real Madrid and Manchester United, and they certainly did not need any help from us to achieve what they wanted.
"We played poorly. We gave away some lousy goals and we have to get back on track.
"We were doing fine four or five weeks ago but we were well beaten by a better side. But we are a better side than we showed in this game."
(From Website :
