Rafael BenÍtez had no intention of throwing in the towel after Liverpool lost the opportunity to gain ground in the Barclays Premier League title race yesterday with a frustrating goalless draw away to Manchester City. Liverpool go into the new year ten points behind Arsenal, albeit with a game in hand, but BenÍtez feels it is too early to dismiss his team from the equation.

Briefly on Saturday night, with Manchester United having lost to West Ham United and Arsenal trailing 1-0 away to Everton, BenÍtez might have dreamt of moving to within six points of the top by beating City. But Arsenal’s fightback on Merseyside was followed by the draw at the City of Manchester Stadium. Nevertheless, the manager takes comfort from the fact that his team are closer to the top than after their 1-0 defeat by United a fortnight ago.

“I prefer to take the positives from this game,” BenÍtez said. “We are playing well. Three games ago people were saying it was impossible for us. It’s different now and we still have a lot of games to play. If we play like today, we will win a lot of games, so let’s see what happens in the next months.”

Liverpool failed to extend their one-point lead over a City team who are expected to invest heavily after the January transfer window opens tomorrow. Sven-Göran Eriksson, the City manager, said after the match that he was confident of adding at least one other signing to that of Nery Castillo, the Mexico forward, who has signed on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk.

Thaksin Shinawatra, the City owner, is certain to give Eriksson whatever backing he needs in the transfer market, but BenÍtez’s activity is likely to be limited in view of his strained relationship with Liverpool’s American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, and continuing uncertainty over the club’s financial position. Some funds will be available, but the noises emanating from Anfield suggest that the manager will have to wheel and deal or restrict himself to targets at the lower end of the market.

Cover in defence appears to be needed, as Álvaro Arbeloa played as a makeshift centre half against City in the absence of the injured Sami Hyypia and Daniel Agger. Tomas Ujfalusi, the Fiorentina and Czech Republic defender, is still a target, despite saying that he would prefer to see out his contract in Florence, but BenÍtez is also understood to be exploring options to strengthen his attack.

“We are close, but you never know,” BenÍtez said when asked about his transfer plans. “Until they sign we will keep working with the players we have, but we are confident we can get the right players at the right price and that would be good for us.”