Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager, wants his players to keep the pressure on Manchester United by beating West Ham United at Upton Park tomorrow. Three points will take Liverpool back above United on goal difference, and although United play Manchester City at Old Trafford on Sunday knowing that they need only seven points from their remaining four games to retain the Barclays Premier League title, Benitez wants his men to keep believing.

"We must keep winning, keep pushing and see what happens," Benitez said. "Maybe, hopefully, City can do us a favour. But there is nothing we can do about that match, only ours. We have to believe. We have done well, we have been able to win a lot of games right at the end which shows our fitness. We have gained a lot of experience and the spirit has been fantastic among the players.

"We will push right until the end. Even that will be of use to us in the future, but we still must believe we can do something this season, not wait for next."

Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano return from injury, but Xabi Alonso, who has an ankle problem following Joey Barton's red-card challenge in the win over Newcastle last weekend, will be absent at the Boleyn Ground, where Benitez expects a tough challenge from a team revitalised under Gianfranco Zola.

"West Ham will be difficult," Benitez said. "Zola is doing a good job, they are confident and playing well. Zola was a fantastic player and now he is showing he can be a fine manager, he is doing a good job there. It was a little difficult for him at the start, it always is when a new manager takes over. But he is clever, he knows the league and what to do.

"But we know we have to win. A point is not good enough so the message is very clear to my players, win and increase the pressure ahead of United's game on Sunday."

Zola is relishing the challenge of a home game against the team in second place. "We played Manchester United at home and Chelsea at home and we went very close and were unlucky," he said. "We keep trying as we lost against those teams but we learnt a lot from them and we are confident that Saturday is going to be a different game.

"It is another opportunity for us to beat a top team and also it has got double the value that if we win this game we have a great chance to get into Europe."