Rafa praises players

Liverpool took control of yesterday's game from start to finish and totally hammered Chelsea. Although the game finished 2-0, the Reds could easily have scored five and after the game Rafa Benitez was full of praise for his players.

"The players deserve great credit for this victory and they and the crowd did a fantastic job and we deserved to win this game," said the Spaniard.

"We controlled the game and we played really well against a very good side. You know I don't like to talk about individuals because the team were fantastic but I thought Fabio Aurelio and Jermaine Pennant who scored his first goal did a fantastic job for us. We needed to control midfield because that is where they are very strong and Xabi Alonso and Steven Gerrard did that for us.

"We knew how important a game this was and we are now five points behind Chelsea and it's a long race and we have to keep going."