Rafa Benitez has no doubts about the quality within his Liverpool squad.

Benitez has complete belief in the players which struggled earlier this season on the way to 10 Barclays Premier League defeats - eight more than in the previous campaign.

"Always you can have a bad season but you can see from the reaction of the players they are fighting and trying," he said.

"The players are focused and training well and the preparation was similar so it is just trying to get the confidence higher.

"The players knew before the Sunderland victory (that their remaining games would be crucial) but when you are trying to play well and trying to win and cannot then the confidence is a little bit low.

"But we didn't change too many things [against Sunderland]. It was because everyone was doing well and at the end that was positive because it was contagious.

"It is very important the players are playing well together and a clean sheet meant everything was positive.

"We have had some good games in the past but maybe this one, when you put together the first half and part of the second half, it was maybe one of the best performances this season."