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Liverpool maintain pressure on Everton

Rafa Benitez believes Liverpool can gain a crucial advantage in the battle for fourth place with victory against West Ham at Anfield tomorrow.

Benitez's side kept up the pressure on Everton, who occupy the final Champions League spot, with a comfortable 3-1 win over Bolton on Sunday thanks to a Jussi Jaaskelainen own goal and second half strikes from Ryan Babel and Fabio Aurelio.

And, with a game in hand, they will leap-frog their Merseyside neighbors if they can gain revenge for the 1-0 defeat they suffered when they faced West Ham at the end of January.

"Every win is important but especially now when we are so close and fighting for the fourth position, it's important to put the other teams under pressure and with the game in hand we have it depends on us," Benitez said. "You don't have to look at the table everyday to know what the situation is."

"If we can beat West Ham then we will go into the remaining games with confidence. We want to play in the Champions League and it was really important to continue winning and put in a good performance to give us more confidence," he said.

In Sunday's other game, Ayegbeni Yakubu sent Everton back into fourth place in the Premier League as his double strike set up a crucial 3-1 win against Portsmouth.

David Moyes' side had been knocked out of the last Champions League spot when Liverpool won at Bolton earlier in the day.

But Yakubu's predatory finishes and a Tim Cahill header extended Everton's unbeaten league run to eight matches and re-opened a three-point gap on their local rivals.

The first goal came after only 47 seconds and was just reward for Yakubu's determination as he harried Lassana Diarra into conceding a free-kick straight from kick-off.

Steven Pienaar took the set-piece, Joseph Yobo flicked on and Yakubu headed past David James from close range.

That should have been the signal for Everton to take control but they found it hard to press home their advantage. Leon Osman shot wide midway through the half but Portsmouth were level in the 38th minute.

Glen Johnson's cross from the right exposed Everton's ponderous offside trap and Defoe took full advantage with a faint touch to guide the ball into the far corner.

Nwankwo Kanu went close to giving Portsmouth the lead soon after half-time when he squeezed past Joleon Lescott, but Tim Howard blocked his shot.

With Everton looking increasingly short of ideas to break down the visitors, Moyes sent on striker Andrew Johnson for the final 25 minutes.

Everton finally had some momentum and the decisive goal arrived in the 73rd minute.

Yakubu was involved again as he laid a pass back to Pienaar on the edge of the penalty area. Pienaar's cross was lofted towards Cahill and the midfielder timed his leap perfectly to bury a header past James.

Yakubu put the result beyond doubt with nine minutes to play. when he lashed an unstoppable shot past James.
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