RAFA: LET'S KEEP OUR GOOD RUN GOING

Paul Eaton 02 February 2007 Rafael Benitez has urged his players to forget about their 3-0 defeat at Goodison in September and concentrate on winning this weekend's Anfield derby.

The Reds have won five league games in a row going into tomorrow's game and stand just five points behind Chelsea with 13 games left to play. Benitez still harbours painful memories of the Reds' last meeting with David Moyes' side, but he insists that defeat shouldn't interfere with his players' concentration for tomorrow's game. "For me, players should not think about the past but always focus on the future," said Benitez. "It’s not always a good idea to think about what’s happened in other games and it’s my responsibility as manager to tell them not to go into the game thinking they must make up for any mistakes before. "That doesn’t matter now. What’s important is the next game. They know they are good players and we are behind them and believe in them. They are playing well, creating chances and keeping clean sheets. "All the players want to win every game, particularly the derby. The local players see this as especially important because of the rivalry. "It’s good if players are really focused, even more so for a game like this, but they must also use their experience. We can control the situation and play good football. "Sometimes you need to play with your head as well as heart. We don’t need anyone to tell us how bad people feel when you lose these games. We know it. "We didn’t deserve to concede three goals in the first game. We can talk about different mistakes and decisions. Now we want three points to stay near the top of the table and to make our supporters happy. "Now we must try to be positive and see if we can play as well tomorrow as we have been. "Everton have some good players, but so do we. I don’t like to use the word revenge. You always want to beat every team. We just try to do the right things, show our strengths and take any advantage of their weaknesses."