Kirkland backs Rafa but aims to deny him

Chris Kirkland believes

Rafa Benitez is right to cling

to Liverpool's title

ambitions but the Wigan

goalkeeper is ready to put

a further dent into his

beloved Kop's fading dream

tonight.

Boyhood supporter

Kirkland, who endured five

injury-plagued years with

Liverpool, returns for the

first time since a £3million

move to the JJB Stadium

insisting that his head will

rule his heart.

Enlarge  

Struggling Wigan, who

have failed to take a point

from any of the Big Four

since their promotion in

2005, will need Kirkland to

deny Fernando Torres if Steve Bruce's men are to

avoid another setback.

Liverpool have fallen 13

points behind leaders

Arsenal, albeit with two

games in hand, the other

one being against West

Ham.

But Kirkland said: "I think

Rafa is right when he says

they are still in with a shout. Teams can slip up.

Whoever wins it has got to

beat Man United to it but

with the number of games

left, anything can happen.

"Fernando Torres has been

a great signing. He's got

everything that you want

in a striker and he's added

that extra something they

were missing. He's difficult to stop. Let's hope we can

do that. I'm looking

forward to facing him,

because you want to play

against the best.

"I'm a Liverpool fan, but

there'll be no sentiment

going back there. We'll be

looking for a result that we

desperately need.

"Hopefully I'll get a good

reception. I played about

50 games for them and

enjoyed my time there. It's

just a shame I had a lot of

injuries."

Wigan hope that former

Anfield striker Emile

Heskey will be fit to return

after missing much of the

season.

Kirkland said: "We miss Hesk

— no disrespect to any of

the other players — but look at the results when he

has played to see how

important he is. He's a big

player and we need our big

players."

Javier Mascherano knows

that tonight is a major game

for Liverpool but believes he

can finish the season as a

Barclays Premier League

winner at Anfield despite

the new doubts about his

future.

With Benitez apparently

failing to convince the

club's American owners

that they should fork out

£17million now to secure

Mascherano, the

Argentina midfielder said:

"We just have to win our

next two or three games. If

we do that, we will be right

up there."