After their thrilling 4-3 victory over Reading in the Carling Cup, Liverpool have been drawn to play Birmingham at St Andrews in the next round of the competition.
Rafael Benitez has warned that it will be a tough game and the Reds will need to be at their best to advance.
‘There are no easy games in football and Birmingham away from home will be a tough game for us,’ Benitez told the official site.
‘Birmingham are playing well in the Championship and towards the top of the table. I know we won 7-0 in the FA Cup but this will be a different game.
‘It will be good for Jermaine Pennant to go back to Birmingham and maybe he can score like Craig Bellamy did against his former club when we played Blackburn in the Premiership game.’
Liverpool played Reading in front of a full house at Anfield and Rafa paid tribute to the fans and thanked them for their great support.
‘I want to thank the fans for coming out in bad weather to support us and it was good to score four fantastic goals and entertain them,’ added Benitez.
‘The important thing is we are in the next round and there were many positives to take from this game. We played some really good attacking football and I know we conceded some goals in the final five minutes of the game but that was because we wanted to keep attacking.’
The tie will be played at St Andrews in the week commencing November 6, 2006.
The draw in full is:
Notts County V Wycombe
Tottenham V Port Vale
Birmingham V Liverpool
Chelsea V Aston Villa
Watford V Newcastle
Chesterfield V Charlton
Southend V Man United
Everton V Arsenal
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