With a bitter battle for control of the club raging between their American owners and would-be buyers Dubai International Capital - a situation which is likely to come to a head this week - Benitez knows his players could become distracted and believes there must be a show of strength on the pitch.

Anything else and Liverpool, with their Barclays Premier League title dreams over, could find themselves not only failing to finish fourth but potentially missing out on qualifying for Europe altogether next season.

That would be a catastrophic financial crisis on top of the boardroom battle and would certainly spell the end of the Spaniard's reign at Anfield.

Going into tomorrow's clash with Aston Villa - one of the clubs fighting with them to claim fourth spot - Benitez has demanded a statement of intent from his players after seeing Everton's win at Wigan move them into fourth.

"We must keep winning, win our game in hand, and show our rivals that we aim to be in the top four and as high as possible in the table," he said.

Liverpool's worried stars - Benitez admits they have been quizzing him over the off-field power battle - calmed a few nerves on the Kop last week with a 5-0 FA Cup hammering of Luton.

But beating a club in administration, who are being forced to sell their players, is one thing. Beating Martin O'Neill's rejuvenated Villa is something quite different.

"Villa are closer to us now, as are Everton and Manchester City, so we know we cannot make any mistakes," added the Reds boss.

"Martin O'Neill is a manager with great experience and when you watch how excited he gets on the touchline, it is clear how important it is to him and how much support he gives to his players.

"It is difficult to play against any good team but when they have a good manager as well it makes it even tougher."

Benitez has set his side a daunting target to turn their season around.

He has highlighted away matches against the top three clubs as key factors in salvaging the club's season.

Liverpool visit Chelsea on February 10, Manchester United on March 22 and Arsenal on April 5, games they traditionally do not do well in.

But Benitez said: "The next target is to beat Aston Villa, then to beat West Ham and then the same against Sunderland. These are our next three league games.

"Then we go to Chelsea. That game will be the key; our targets must be short-term ones to win these games before we go to Stamford Bridge.

"Three wins and a cup win also on Saturday against Havant and Waterlooville, that is our immediate aim.

"The real key now is that if we want to reduce the gap at the top we must win the away games at Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United.

"Normally our performances in such games are not the best but if we really want to change something, the way the season is going, we must go into these away games with the teams above us knowing we still have a chance.

"We cannot win anything by just looking at the table."

Liverpool's cause was not helped by victories for the top three yesterday with leaders Manchester United now an impossible 15 points clear and third-placed Chelsea 11 ahead.

"We are not thinking about the gap, we can see it. To change it we must win games in a row rather than to keep looking at the table and worrying," said Benitez.

"The problem for us this season has been the expectation. We were told we were spending big money and can be contenders but if you look at the last 10 years, the difference between Liverpool and the top has frequently been around 20 points.

"To win the title you need 89 points, maybe 85 this season, but Liverpool's record in the Premier League is only 82.

"If you want to win the title from our position, we know we must do everything perfect.

"That is not easy but you must not spend every week looking at the table because you will lose confidence and play with more anxiety.

"We need to gain some points now and see what situation we are in when we go to Chelsea next month."