Source: Daily_Mail
Carragher praises old pal Murphy for boosting Liverpool's title hopes
Jamie Carragher has thanked former Liverpool star Danny Murphy for blowing the title race wide open - but warned his team-mates the midfielder poses a huge threat to their own hopes.
Murphy scored from the penalty spot in Fulham's stunning 2-0victory over Manchester United before the international break.
That result allowed Rafa Benitez's side to move to within a point of leaders United with a 5-0 victory over Aston Villa at Anfield.
Liverpool face Fulham on Saturday and Carragher told the club's website: 'I sent Danny a text before the game to wish him luck and another one afterwards to say thank you.
'He did us a favour, but it's up to us to capitalise now.
'Danny has probably been Fulham's best player this season along with Brede Hangeland at the back,' said Carragher.
'I think with Danny being captain and playing more of a holding role now, he's organising the people around him.
'He's got great experience, so we know it will be difficult, but it's up to us to try and pin him down and stop him playing because I think he makes Fulham tick.
'Chelsea only drew at Craven Cottage, they defeated Arsenal there earlier on in the season and we couldn't beat them at Anfield so we're talking about a very tough game for us, but we've got to make sure we're not another big team to drop points there.'
United's defeat at Fulham came on the back of Liverpool's 4-1 demolition job at Old Trafford, but Alex Ferguson's charges still have a game in hand over the chasing pack.
However, with United not in action until Sunday against Villa, a win in west London for the Reds will see them go top of the league on Saturday evening.
'We've got an opportunity to go top of the league with United playing Sunday and it's one we've got to take,' added the defender.
'We've got to try and pick up three points in every game and try to catch United. A draw is probably not a great result, even though we can go top with a point because of the goal difference.
'When the game is finished on Saturday, we want to be top of the league.'
The 31-year-old believes it's vital the Reds try to take maximum points from their remaining fixtures and attempt render United's extra game meaningless.
He said: "You wouldn't have expected United to lose two games on the bounce. That's the way the title race is in England, though.
"Every game is very difficult and it just goes to show how well we've done this season when United loose two games in a week, but we've only lost two league games all season.
"United still have game in hand, but between now and then our aim is to try and win every game so their extra game doesn't count."
