It says much about the state of English football in the 21st century that Liverpool's season has been overshadowed by a power struggle between wealthy businessmen in the United States and Dubai, but on the pitch the team are in the midst of a local difficulty with their neighbours.

A game in hand against West Ham United this evening gives Liverpool the chance to reclaim fourth position in the Barclays Premier League, but they know that Everton will fight hard in the battle for Champions League qualification.

With home matches against West Ham this evening, Newcastle United on Saturday and Reading on March 15, Liverpool have an opportunity to put points on the board before a more daunting sequence of fixtures, which pit them against Manchester United and Arsenal away either side of a Merseyside derby match at home to Everton. That game could effectively decide who finishes fourth - although Aston Villa hope to have something to say about that - but José Manuel Reina, the goalkeeper, believes that it is imperative that Liverpool are looking down on Everton by the time they do battle at Anfield on March 30.

“We know we have some hard fixtures coming up,” Reina said.

“We have to go to Arsenal and Manchester United and of course we have Everton at home. Those are not easy games for us. Our main target now is to have more points than Everton when the time comes to play them.

“Everton are playing really well and they are fighting us hard. That is a real six-point game and if we are ahead of them and can win that game, we will be a little bit more comfortable in the league. That must be our target. We cannot afford to drop any more points at home. We have dropped points at home, but we need wins now.”

Alan Curbishley, the West Ham manager, will be tempted to make changes to his team after a chastening 4-0 defeat at home to Chelsea on Saturday. Dean Ashton is in contention at centre forward, but Craig Bellamy, the Wales captain and former Liverpool forward, is one of nine players missing through injury.

Liverpool (possible; 4-2-3-1): JM Reina - Á Arbeloa, J Carragher, M Skrtel, F Aurélio - X Alonso, J Mascherano - D Kuyt, S Gerrard, R Babel - F Torres.

West Ham United (possible; 4-4-2): R Green - L Neill, A Ferdinand, M Upson, G McCartney - N Solano, M Noble, H Mullins, F Ljungberg - C Cole, D Ashton.

Referee: S Bennett.