Rafa told he has to win more trophies

Only maximum points from their last three fixtures will ensure qualification from the group stages for a side which has reached the final in two of the past three seasons.

Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks insisted that he and George Gillett expect a return in trophies sooner rather than later after making £40million available to Benitez to invest in new players this summer.

Hicks said: "Yes, the squad is good enough to win things. It should be winning things. If it doesn't, we'll have to look at the circumstances at the end of the year and understand what happened.

"I don't want to predict failure, I want to predict success but we've got our work cut out in the Champions League. If we didn't qualify, it would be terribly disappointing, but I'm an optimist and I think that we're going to win our next two games at home and then we will have a big match in Marseille."

Hicks acknowledged that Premier League success is the priority for Liverpool fans this season. It was also the driving force behind the summer spending which brought in Fernando Torres, Ryan Babel, Andriy Voronin and Yossi Benayoun.

While Liverpool's owners reaffirmed that they are committed to Benitez, the club's best start to a Premiership season for five years must be maintained if they are not to become restless.

Hicks added: "I can tell from just talking to the fans that because they haven't won the Premiership in 17 years, they want to win the Prem.

"We won the Champions League in 2005 and should have won it last season, but I know their passions really are that they want to win the Premiership.

"One of the reasons we made the signings we did in the summer was to create the depth we now have, which Rafa explained to George and me is how you win the Premiership.

"I totally support Rafa. He doesn't need guidance. Nobody wants to win more than Rafa, but I know when we committed the resources for signings in the summer that the idea was to have a team that could compete for the Premiership. We haven't had the depth in previous years for that.

"I don't believe that Rafa wants to win the Champions League more than the Premiership. I know Rafa. He wants to win the Premiership badly, and we haven't lost yet.

"If we beat Arsenal on Sunday we're only three points behind, so we're doing okay.

"The Champions League revenue for reaching the knockout stage is something we'd like to have, no question about it. You can't assume you're going to go there every year, as that doesn't make sense, but we've got great players and we just need to let them play.

"Not having Torres obviously hurt on Wednesday. Hopefully he'll be healthy on Sunday."

Hicks also confirmed that the financing package for Liverpool's new £400m ground should be completed within the next month.

The stadium is due for completion in time for the 2011/12 season and is promised to be more fan-friendly than Anfield.

Hicks said: 'Our initial approval will be for a 60,000 capacity but it will be designed to hold more. We intend to get further approvals to increase it in size.

"Our fans are wonderful. We don't give them great service and they are still wonderful. Over time, as we get the new stadium, we will be able to give them services they haven't had before, amenities they haven't had before, comforts they have never had before, ease of getting tickets they have never had before.

"A much more vibrant internet site, more reliable ability to buy merchandise on the internet, everything. Our fans are there in spite of what we do. We need to do a much better job for our fans and we will."!

Now the team need to follow suit.