Source: Daily_Mail
Help us out: Rafa begs Newcastle to halt United surge
Rafael Benitez has called on Newcastle to do Liverpool a favour and throw the title chase wide open when they host Manchester United tonight.
Second-half goals from David Ngog - his first in the Barclays Premier League - and Yossi Benayoun gave Liverpool a fairly comfortable 2-0 win over Sunderland at Anfield last night and cut United's lead at the top of the table to four points.
Sir Alex Ferguson's side have two games in hand but defeat at St James' Park tonight might at least plant some seeds of doubt in the minds of the champions with Liverpool's next League game at Old Trafford.
Chelsea are also still in the hunt after a late Didier Drogba goal at Portsmouth gave Guus Hiddink's side a 1-0 win and kept them ahead of Liverpool on goal difference.
Asked if he would be supporting Newcastle, Benitez said: 'Yes. We want to win, so if United can't win there, it would be very good for us. It will be important for us to win at Old Trafford. If we can't, it will be very difficult.'
Victory last night was Liverpool's first in three League games following the bitter disappointment of losing 2-0 at struggling Middlesbrough on Saturday.
Benitez paid tribute to his players, saying: 'We needed to win because we were in a good position before the Middlesbrough game and the defeat was disappointing.
'We had to show character and the reaction of the players was very good.'
Liverpool had an early let-off when Kenwyne Jones was through on goal but failed to beat Pepe Reina with a poor shot.
Sunderland manager Ricky Sbragia said: 'I don't think he'll be watching that too many times again. He should have scored and he's obviously disappointed with it.
'But we were pleased to go in 0-0 at half-time. Then we fell asleep for the first goal and conceded the second too soon after that.'
