United may be closing in on a hat-trick of Barclays Premier League titles, but Benitez is adamant his arch-rival Sir Alex Ferguson should be casting an anxious glance towards Anfield after Liverpool’s recent emergence.

Benitez insisted that increasing harmony off the pitch and progress on it, makes his side Ferguson’s biggest concern.

Reflecting on the fact that Chelsea are once more having to search for a new manager, Benitez said: ‘There is a stability about us now and the fact that the manager is staying is another positive message. I feel it is fair to say that we are now best equipped to challenge United.

‘We are better placed than the others and I have confidence we can still pip United for the league this season.

‘Even if we just fall short, the experience of going so close is going to be fantastic for the players and staff. Next season they will be going into games determined not to drop a single point.

‘It will be a different mentality, a titlewinning one, and it will keep us up at the top. United can be sure this season was no one-off.’

He told ZOO magazine: “Everybody was surprised and you ask yourself whether it was right or not. I don’t know, but clearly the mind games have started and that was just the best way he could deal with it.”

Liverpool are top of the Premiership as they hunt a first crown since 1990.

But Manchester United boss Fergie said: “There’s no doubt that in the second half of the season they will get nervous.

“With the experience we’ve got, having won a couple of titles in the past couple of years especially, it helps you. There’s no doubt about that.

“They’re going into the unknown, and if you make mistakes, then you get punished.”

United are seven points behind Liverpool and four behind Chelsea with two games in hand on both.

United midfielder Michael Carrick said: “We could have been a lot further behind than we are. We’re very positive.”

British tabloid the Daily Mirror state that Premier League money-men Manchester City will offer a world record amount for Liverpool forward Fernando Torres in January.

The Blues’ Arab owners are thought to be ready to offer £50 million (€57m) for the Spanish international, smashing the £46m (then €76m, at a different exchange rate) Real Madrid paid for Zinedine Zidane in 2001.

However, the Citizens are prepared for ‘El Nino’ to reject a switch to Eastlands, in January at least, and have therefore arranged contingency plans.

With Spanish club Valencia reported to be in fancial turmoil, a bid for Torres’ Spanish international team-mate David Villa is on the cards.

But rumour has it that Valencia president Vicente Soriano is ready to turn down any bids coming from Manchester, even if they were willing to part with as much as £60 million (€68 million).

Consequently, City manager Mark Hughes has sounded out Portsmouth’s Lassana Diarra and Blackburn Rovers’ Paraguayan international forward Roque Santa Cruz, who he brought to the club when he managed them last season, as more appropriate targets.

Liverpool ace Fernando Torres, who finished third in this year’s Ballon D’Or voting behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, revealed he was very close to joining Milan before signing for the Reds in 2007.

“I know that Milan were interested in me and that the clubs talked between them, but never to me,” he said. “[His former club] Atletico never told me they intended to sell me before ending the negotiations with Milan, but there was talk about me joining them. It’s always nice when the top clubs are interested in you.”

The Spanish international did get a chance to play at the San Siro stadium last season, as Liverpool faced Inter in the last 16 stage of the Champions League and Torres scored the winning goal at the ‘Scala del Calcio’.

“I was impressed, I had never played in that stadium,” he continued. “Everyone had talked to me about it, but playing there is something else. There’s a very long tunnel, which added to the atmosphere, and we understood it would be even tougher than we thought.”

The Euro 2008 winner also talked about defender Marco Materazzi’s sending off in the first leg of last season’s Champions League tie, which he admits made it easier for Liverpool.

“When he was sent off last season it was perhaps a bit excessive, they were two harsh yellow cards, and if Inter had remained with eleven men it would have been much harder for us to qualify for the quarter finals…,” the 24-year-old said.

Jose Mourinho tried to sign the player for £20million when he arrived at Stamford Bridge, and then again for what would have been a British record of £32million in the summer of 2005.

Upon the latter bid Gerrard told Liverpool he wanted out of Anfield and he handed in a transfer request, which he later withdrew, and he admits he regrets ever considering leaving.

“It’s only as you get older though that you realise how important playing for Liverpool is,” he said. “You cannot grasp that when you are setting out, so maybe that is why I look at things a bit differently.

“Looking back, I’m pleased how I have reacted. From the bad tackles and sending offs, to all the talk of a Chelsea move, which I regret getting involved in, and the own goal in the Carling Cup final.

“Without the setbacks, I don’t think I’d have achieved as much as I have.”

The Liverpool boss believes Torres merits the Ballon D’Or after his contributions for both club and country.

He said: “Fernando would be my selection.

‘He has scored a lot of goals and won the Euros with Spain. Ronaldo is also a very good player but I choose Fernando.’

Liverpool travel to London this weekend with only goal difference separating them from their table-topping hosts, as both teams remain unbeaten eight games into the season.

Many pundits are still sceptical about the Reds’ title credentials. For the best part of two decades they have only occasionally threatened to challenge for a 19th English championship, and the gap between the Merseysiders and the so-called top two certainly hasn’t narrowed in recent years.

A victory at Stamford Bridge, however, would send Liverpool’s stock skyrocketing. Nobody has beaten Chelsea on their own turf in the Premier League since March 2004, so a win for Rafael Benitez’s men would turn heads across the country – especially as it would be their second significant scalp of the season.

A 2-1 triumph over arch-rivals Manchester United was the first hint of a shift in psyche at Anfield. After going a goal behind, the home side took charge of the game and secured a famous win thanks to Ryan Babel’s late strike in front of the Kop.

Alonso was a pivotal figure in that game, and he is hoping to put on a similarly dominant display in West London this weekend as Liverpool chase all three points.

“The United game was our first big test of the season, and beating them was very important for our confidence,” the Spanish midfielder said in the Daily Mail.

“Chelsea is going to be another one. They haven’t lost at home in the League for 86 games over four years, but our aim is to put an end to that and let everyone know what we are about.

“Being the first team to take three points at Stamford Bridge after all this time would send out an important statement as well as putting us in a great position at the top of the table. Winning there could spur us on for the rest of the season.”

The Chelsea-Liverpool rivallry has become one of the more intense in English football over the past few years – largely because of the pair’s European encounters, it must be admitted.

The two clubs have met three times in four years at the semi-final stage of the Champions League, the Reds winning the first two before the Blues hit back last season to book a place in Moscow.

But Alonso claimed that he and his team-mates are harbouring no thoughts of revenge, insisting that everyone at Anfield is focused solely on winning this weekend’s fixture.

“Chelsea have a new manager, and there are different players in both teams, so we can only look forward to Sunday, rather than think back to last April,” the Basque playmaker said.

“But we won’t be going there with any fear. We will go out expecting to win, just as we have in every game this season.”

Liverpool have established themselves as this season’s comeback kings, having claimed four of their six wins after going behind.

But Alonso believes the 18-time champions of England cannot afford to surrender the lead to Chelsea, pointing out that it is much more difficult to erase a defecit against Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side than against Manchester City or Wigan Athletic.

“What we cannot afford to do, though, is start as slowly as we have in some games,” the 26-year-old added. “That could prove costly, because the quality of Chelsea’s players means they can punish you at any moment.

“We have to be on top of our game for the full 90 minutes.”