England are in action tonight (ok don’t get too excited) but there is a good interest for Liverpool fans in that Peter Crouch is set to start up front on his own, Stevie Gerrard will be part of a five man midfield, and on loan keeper Scott Carson will keep his place in goal.

Carson looks set to make his move to Aston Villa permanent in January and him seemingly becoming England number 1 can only add to his - already impressive - market value. Benitez paid Leeds just ₤1m in 2005 but the return looks set to be 10 times that figure. A healthy financial return on the 22 year old.

Have you read? Jose Reina - Safest feet in soccer (Kopblog)

Fernando Torres claims Liverpool have nothing to fear from their Premier League title rivals this season.

Torres told the club’s website: ‘We have a confidence and a focus which will make us a very dangerous opponent for everyone who has to face us.

‘We have maybe not played as well as we are all capable of all the time this season but look at how close we are to the teams at the top of the table. That is highly encouraging for us.

‘From what I have seen so far in England we do not have anything to fear from any of our opponents for the title. They are all great teams with a lot of experience and many very, very good players but so are we.

‘I am sure that as the season progresses it will come down to a fight between Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea - and we will be in there too.

‘There is a winning mentality at Liverpool. I look around in the dressing room before a game and in the face of every player and every coach you see the winning expectation.

‘They do not go out on to the pitch either hoping they will or praying they will win. They expect it. They have such a belief in their ability that another outcome is just not something they consider.

‘It is very new to me but I enjoy that mentality very much and I am thinking this way too now.

‘Hopefully we have had all the injuries that we are going to have and for the next few months we can really start to build a momentum that makes us very hard to stop.

‘Any team that concedes as few goals as we concede is going to be tough to play against. If we begin to take the chances that we are creating in our games then I am sure those teams above us will start to fear us.’

In short

Speculation continues to link Peter Crouch with a January departure, Portsmouth reported to be happy to pay ₤10m for the England forward… Javier Mascherano is keen to finalise his permament move to Anfield, ₤17m should be exchanged in January… Danny Agger will return at Newcastle in the midday kick off on Saturday…