Fernando Torres has Spurs victory in his sights - Football - Sport - Evening Standard
       

Fernando Torres has Spurs victory in his sights

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres believes a victory at home to Tottenham would help return confidence levels to what they were last season.

Having finished second in the Barclays Premier League, pushing Manchester United all the way, many expected Rafael Benitez's side to mount a real title challenge this campaign.

However, a loss of form of a number of key players and injuries to Torres and captain Steven Gerrard have contributed to seven defeats already.

That has left the club seventh in the table and allowed the likes of Spurs, Aston Villa and Manchester City to take advantage and all make a bid to break into the top four.

But having beaten Villa last week thanks to Torres' 50th league goal, when he became the quickest player to reach that landmark in the club's history in the process, the Spain striker is looking for another boost against Tottenham at Anfield.

"The main thing is confidence. We have not had the same confidence," said the striker of this season's problems.

"Last year we were winning games when we were not playing so well - we got 20 points from winning games in the last 20 minutes.

"When you are winning games, you go out and you know that you are going to go into your next game and win that as well.

"We have not been able to win three or four games in a row this year. If we can beat Tottenham, we will be up at that level."

Torres stressed the team are thinking only about victory against Harry Redknapp's side at Anfield, which would also avenge their 2-1 defeat at White Hart Lane on the opening day of the season.

"It's similar to Aston Villa. We need to win and we have got to win," said the 25-year-old.

"A draw would be a bad result for us because we need to win to get close to the top four again.
But I am sure we can do it.

"The performance of the team is always much better against the top sides in England and I'm sure that we can get three points.

"We have confidence, even though we know it will be a really difficult game.

"We know we need to improve but we can do it. This is almost the same squad as last year.
"We have the confidence that we will finish in the top four and maybe even higher.

"If we can keep progressing, we will see what happens. But of course, the main thing is to finish in the top four again and make sure that we can play in the Champions League next season."

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