Rafael Benitez insists Liverpool can take heart from their battling 2-2 draw with Manchester City even though their Premier League title challenge looks all but over.

Benitez's side needed a late Yossi Benayoun strike to salvage a point at Anfield on Saturday after Martin Skrtel's opener was cancelled out by goals from City's Emmanuel Adebayor and Stephen Ireland.

The Reds remain in seventh place and have won just one of their last 10 matches in all competitions.

Premier League leaders Chelsea look out of sight for Liverpool but Benitez refused to be downbeat as he tries to lift his players for their vital midweek Champions League trip to Debrecen.

"I'm disappointed with the result but you can't say anything because the players were working so hard," Benitez said.

"We had a lot of problems and conceded two goals but you could still see the character of the team. In the circumstances it was a very good performance."

Benitez, who was already without Fernando Torres, was rocked by first half injuries to Danish defender Daniel Agger and Dutch forward Ryan Babel that left both doubtful for the Debrecen clash.

The Liverpool boss admitted his side will struggle to end their slump until all his stars are fit.

"With some players available and fit we are much better," he said. "We are still bringing players back from injury it will be could. Gerrard was tired, (David) Ngog was tired and we had to make two substitutes early on.

"Agger has five stitches and Babel has a problem with his ankle so we have to wait to see if they will be fit."

City boss Mark Hughes was frustrated to see his team settle for a sixth successive league draw after causing plenty of problems for Liverpool's defence.

"It's disappointing because I think we were the better team," Hughes said. "We were in a winning position and that is the frustration at the moment. We are allowing those situations to go away from us.

"If we had defended that moment correctly we could have seen the game out because Liverpool weren't causing us too many problems."

City striker Emmanuel Adebayor scored his side's first goal as he took advantage of Liverpool's zonal marking to head home in yards of space from a corner.

The former Arsenal star admitted he was surprised to have been granted so much room to take the chance.

"When you have (Martin) Skrtel, (Jamie) Carragher and people like that at the back it is very difficult," he said.

"On the corner, I don't know where they were. I was very happy to be on my own and it was a good finish."

Hughes admitted City had planned to take advantage of Liverpool's marking system.

He said: "A running jump will aways beat a standing jump. If you've got a guy in the box like Adebayor you've got a chance if you can find him. I thought it was a magnificent header."

AFP

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