Rafael Benitez has challenged his misfiring Liverpool stars to prove they are genuine title contenders with a display of character against Tottenham tomorrow.
Liverpool's abject performance in a 1-0 Champions League defeat by Marseille midweek has further raised the stakes for the pick of this weekend's Premier League clashes, one in which Spurs boss Martin Jol's job will once again be on the line.
Benitez's position is not in any way comparable to that of Jol, who may well have been out of a job if his side had not fought back from 4-1 down to draw with Aston Villa on Monday.
But the Spaniard knows that a second home defeat in a week would deal a massive blow to confidence in his ability to turn the huge financial investment Liverpool's owners made over the summer into trophies.
Liverpool's woes in Europe have been exacerbated by the fact Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal, all demonstrated real grit in securing midweek wins and Benitez now wants his squad to match the commitment of their title rivals.
"We must improve, we must show our character now," Benitez warned.
"We know we have to do better. We showed character to get a draw against Porto when we did not play well, and we showed character to win at Wigan last weekend in a hard match," he said.
"Now we must show character against Tottenham. That is our first priority after the Marseille result," Benitez said.
The Champions League reverse has again focused attention on Benitez's penchant for constantly altering his line-ups, but he has been unrepentant on that score and it is almost certain there will be another string of changes to his line-up for tomorrow's clash.
Spurs, who will be hoping Monday's fightback was a sign they have turned the corner in what has been a desperately disappointing start to the season, are hoping to have Jermaine Jenas and Aaron Lennon back from injury.
Manchester United can go top of the table, for 24 hours at least, if they beat struggling Wigan at Old Trafford in one of only two matches scheduled for today, the other being Aston Villa's meeting with West Ham.
United will have an unusual look about them in central midfield as Michael Carrick, Owen Hargreaves and Darren Fletcher are all injured.
Defender John O'Shea is the favorite to be pressed into the holding role as United seek to sharpen their cutting edge after a string of hard-won 1-0 victories.
Arsenal entertain Sunderland tomorrow looking for a 10th consecutive win in all competitions, Chelsea travel to another struggling side, Bolton, and third-placed Manchester City host Middlesbrough.
Given that Bolton are already fighting for their top flight lives, the Reebok Stadium might not be the ideal place for Chelsea to experiment with the more expansive style that new boss Avram Grant has admitted he is trying to introduce.
The Israeli acknowledged after the win in Valencia that serving up more entertaining soccer was part of the brief he had been handed by Roman Abramovich following Jose Mourinho's departure.
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