Liverpool’s players are confident they will lift the Barclays Premier League title – next season, that is. With Manchester United confirmed as champions once again, their Merseyside rivals have begun an inquest into why they have fallen just short and are optimistic that they can overcome Sir Alex Ferguson’s side in 2009-10.

Rafael Benitez' men will become the only club in top-flight history to lose just two matches in a season and not finish first if they avoid defeat against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, while yesterday’s win over West Bromwich Albion was their thirteenth away success of the campaign, equalling a 104-year-old club record.

“You can look at the statistics and it is impressive that we have only lost two games and scored lots of goals, but United have got more points than us and credit to them because that is what matters,” Jamie Carragher, the defender, said. “It is hard to win the Premier League because our top four sides plus Barcelona probably make up the best five sides in Europe. That is the challenge we face.”

Jose Manuel Reina led the rallying calls. “We have already beaten the club record in terms of Premier League points and we tried our hardest to do our best at the end of the season, but it wasn’t enough because United didn’t slip at any time,” the goalkeeper said. “They were quite strong so we have to congratulate them and keep pushing for the next few years. We are really proud to be closer but we will be even prouder to win it. That is the next step. We are becoming a stronger team because when I first joined Liverpool we were something like 30 points behind them and now it is only three or four points, so we have to keep pushing them and try to win it next season.”

Carragher said that an intense desire to help Reina keep a clean sheet and irritation at some slack defending prompted his on-pitch row with Alvaro Arbeloa. The team-mates pushed each other during Liverpool’s 2-0 win against West Brom at The Hawthorns yesterday.

“It was just frustration, nothing more, it was over with quickly,” Carragher said. “We cannot win the league now but there are a number of targets we can aim for. We wanted to keep a clean sheet and we want Pepe Reina to have a chance of the Golden Glove for the third season running. Pepe is one behind [Edwin] Van der Sar now and there’s a chance Van der Sar won’t play next weekend for Manchester United, so we wanted to make sure Pepe got a clean sheet at West Brom, and again next week in our final match.

“To be honest we were a bit lackadaisical in our defending all through the game at The Hawthorns and they had too many chances. Maybe we took it a bit too easy and let them attack us too much, but that was one of the toughest games I’ve played in all season. We go all over Europe playing top teams and we play against the best sides in this country, but that was one of the hardest games we have had.”